6 Reasons Your Products Aren’t Flying Off the Shelves

Every business owner dreams of the day when their products fly off the shelves. When customer demand is so high that they can’t restock products on the shelves fast enough, but, of course, that sort of situation is a rare occurrence for most firms. Product marketing is hard, so it just doesn’t happen like that every day.

The good news is that you can usually diagnose the problems that result in slow product turnover. Once you’ve figured out why your products don’t move the way you envisioned, it’s often a simple fix to get back on track.

But what are the six reasons why your products aren’t flying off the shelves? Let’s take a look so you can learn how to improve your sales.

Problems with product marketing

First, let’s understand what a product market is. It’s more than the physical product. Think of a product as a hologram of its physical form. Below are the components that form a product in consumers’ minds.

Meanwhile, a product market consists of not only your product but all products that fit with your product as alternatives to your target market, your target market(s), and your competitors.

Now that we have some basic definitions let’s explore the top reasons your products aren’t flying off the shelves.

Not understanding the market

Product marketing is all about creating a match between your target market and the products you sell. Remember that consumers buy solutions to the problems they face. That means you must understand the problems faced by your target market and then offer them superior solutions to those problems. Market research is the key to finding this elusive match.

For instance, in developing the minivan, one of the most successful new car models in recent memory, Chrysler observed how families (their target market) used their current vehicles. They observed families trying to cram too many people and too much gear into a sedan or station wagon, which most families owned. Even in a station wagon, families struggled to stow bulky items like hockey gear or haul the team. Vans were great for carrying lots of stuff and a number of passengers, but they were hard to handle and park due to their underlying structure, which was that of a truck. Hence, the birth of a minivan built on a car frame with proportions more like a van. And it sold like crazy.

Of course, a product market is made up of more than the products and consumers for that product. It includes all the other products that are seen as an alternative by that target market. Hence, understanding the offerings from competitors is an important part of product marketing. Look for your competitive advantage over other products that solve the same problem as your product. Use this competitive advantage in developing marketing by emphasizing your unique selling proposition (USP).

High prices

High prices are also near the top of the list of problems that result in poor product sales. In today’s commodified market, businesses can no longer get away with charging a premium unless consumers buy into the notion that your product offers superior performance when compared with similar products. For instance, consumers appear willing to pay a premium price for Apple laptops and desktop computers when compared to the prices charged for those offered by its competition. However, that price premium disappears when you look at the mobile phone market, where Apple products sell at a parity price with Samsung. 

If you want to charge high prices, you can also offer some sort of value-added service. It would help if you gave customers something extra, like an extended warranty, that they can’t get from budget products or other vendors. For Apple computers, a lot of the company’s ability to get a premium price is due to the aesthetics of the product rather than any inherent superiority in its technology.

Poor distribution

Another issue is poor distribution channels. If customers can’t find you or it takes ages for your products to arrive in the mail, you won’t see products flying off the shelves. Some customers will put up with the inconvenience (for a price advantage), but most won’t. The entire field of logistics relies on delivering the right product at the right price at the right time to customers. Since distribution often greatly impacts price, since transportation and handling costs can add significantly to the final price, pay attention to designing logistics channels that deliver on this need.

You can improve your distribution by going online and using fulfillment services. You might also consider closing a physical city center location and relocating to a warehouse or somewhere else. 

Remember that distribution begins with product manufacturing, so include your supply chain in your distribution plan. If you can’t achieve a seamless supply chain, you’ll struggle to meet demand, causing product delivery delays.

Negative customer reviews

Negative customer reviews can also trash your reputation and make it challenging to sell your products (even if you’re just the middleman). Even just a handful of reviews that trash your product can be enough to prevent your business from getting off the ground in the way you’d like. 

Fortunately, you can deal with this by improving service quality and asking happy customers to leave comments online. However, it takes time, so you’ll want to avoid negative reviews in the first place. Don’t even try to remove negative reviews, however, as they never truly disappear in the digital world. By attempting to remove negative reviews, you’ll lose any trust consumers have in your brand. The same goes for seeding your reviews with positive feedback that isn’t genuine.

That’s why Amazon has rules regarding reviews and ratings in place for vendors selling on the platform. It routinely removes reviews when the reviewer has a relationship with the vendor, for instance.

Low-quality product marketing

You can also get into trouble in the retail space if your marketing isn’t up to scratch. Amateur approaches rarely work and can make people less likely to want to buy products from you. They also make you look unprofessional, which questions the quality of your products

Make sure you set up a high-quality photoshoot for every product you want to sell. Please don’t take pictures yourself, as it’s almost impossible to get the sizing, lighting, and colors right. The result makes your products look cheap.

Also, focus on your online outreach, which is now a primary retail channel. Ensure you have a high-quality website with good SEO and social media accounts on the platforms used by your target market. Make sure you are targeting people who can benefit from your services, not those who can’t. 

Low product quality

Some retailers also encounter low product quality issues. While they do most other things right, they stock items from manufacturers that don’t exercise proper quality control, which can lead to a bad reputation. 

No market research

Lastly, if you neglect market research, you can sometimes find yourself failing to get products to fly off the shelves. Not knowing who your customers are means you can target the wrong people or list ineffective stock in your inventory. 

Start by exploring who is buying from you and their characteristics while looking at your best-selling lines. Ask whether you could expand these while removing some of those that refuse to sell the way you want.

Conclusion

By understanding why products aren’t flying off your shelves, you’re in a better position to fix the problems. You’ll see your sales soar once you do.

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