The next time a supplier representative offers you a product on a sale or return basis, ask for more information. Ask your buy price if you take it firm sale. Ask whether other retailers with the same product are offered sale or return.
I am not talking here about product such as newspapers, magazines you’re your main card range. No, my interest is more with gifts and related items, new card spinners and toy related items.
I label sale or return as a curse because too often I see it stop retailers being retailers, managing a product on the shop floor for maximum performance – because if the background is the knowledge they can return the product if it does not work.
I think a sale or return offer makes retailers lazy. I think suppliers offer it because it is an easy to get a product into a retail business and once there it is more likely to stay.
Compare how you treat sale or return product with firm sale product. I sell plenty of retailers treating the two differently. Firm sale product is worked hard, pushed to sell through, to achieve the necessary return on inventory, space and labour for the business. This makes sense since it is your money at risk.
With sale or return, it is easy to consider that you have no risk. Without risk, where is the pressure. While some retailers will work sale or return product hard, plenty will not and this is why I say it is a curse.
Sale or return is not a benefit. I see it most often as a lazy tactic used by some suppliers because their product is not good enough to support a firm sale approach.
To newsagents I say: take the challenge of being completely responsible for your buying decisions. Chase better deals from firm sale. Work the product hard. Drive a faster return. Look at products differently as a result.