Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Replacement or Expansion: The Art of Culling Your Inventory

When you decide to drop products that aren't selling well, you can take two approaches to adjust or refresh your inventory, as described in the following two sections.

Replacing one product with another

One strategy for refreshing your inventory is to replace nonperforming products: Get rid of one product and immediately substitute it with a new one. Your replacement products should meet these criteria:

• They're complementary. Look for items that are a good fit with the theme or focus of your site. You want products that continue to be relevant to your target customer.

  Resist the temptation to add products that require marketing to an entirely different customer base. That's almost the same as starting a brand-new business, and it can permanently derail you!

• They're price competitive. The price points of replacement products should be within the range of your current pricing structure. You don't want to introduce a high-end luxury item if your site is more of a midrange store. Similarly, you want to search for products that can be competitively priced on the general market. If you can find the product from other online sources for significantly less cost, you will have difficulty competing.

  Always compare prices before ...