Strategic Pricing: 3 Ways to Move Extra Holiday Merchandise

Well, it's here. The final few furious days of the 2011 holiday shopping season. And it's such a mish mash of hype and hope right now that there aren't any underlying trends to take note of other than discounts rule (again).

If you've been busy tending to your own store, then you may have missed the ginormous sales going on at national retailers across the country. Lest they be stuck with too much merchandise going into the new year, stores opted to massively discount a couple weeks ago, offering up to 70 percent entire stores.

Ouch! That hurts the bottom line. But the alternative hurts even more - getting stuck with excess inventory going into the new year which will negatively impact profitability and hampering sales of new merchandise coming in. After all, a customer will always go for the bargain first.

There's always been this mentality among entrepreneurial retailers where you can hang onto merchandise as long as you need to because eventually it will all sell. But what hasn't that gotten you so far? If you're like a lot of retailers I work with, I find a hodge-podge of old, grungy, out-of-style merchandise sitting in a remote corner of the store just waiting to be bought.

And that's just not going to happen.

So why aren't you marking down all your excess inventory now, a time when there is a greater number of customers in your store than any other time of the year?

Here are some ways to go about it:

1. Go for bountiful. Often, indie retailers are afraid of marking down too much merchandise. That's a valid concern. But if it isn't selling, it isn't selling,

Don't be afraid to mark down excess inventory you brought in for the holidays. That includes any holiday-themed merchandise, too. Just a couple of considerations: First, make sure you have enough leftover for your post-holiday sale. Second, make sure you either have new inventory coming in January or that you adjust your markdowns so that your store isn't empty on New Year's Day.

2. Go for big. Big discounts that is. Now is the time to mark it down and move it out. And since so many of the big national retailers are at 40 percent off or more, you're going to have to play in the same range.

Granted, you can't always go that deep as you don't have the same margins to work with. But this isn't the time for a graduated markdown strategy. Nothing moves merchandise faster than deep discounts.

3. Go for noise. You have to make some noise in order to make something happen. And in a week where our inboxes are overflowing with last-minute deals, you still have to fight for your share of voice. Out of sight, out of mind as the old saying goes.

So remind customers you have great deals still running this week. And don't forget to use Twitter and Facebook to offer up special deals on a daily basis to get customers in your store.

Remember -- there are only a few days left to move all that merchandise. How are your going to get rid of your excess inventory before Christmas Day?  Sound off below.