MOVE THAT STOCK

Today our group was faced with a scary reality. We had not reached our targeted sales. In our minds we were not trying to be too ambitions and were convinced that we had under predicted just to be safe! But apparently not as we were face with the reality of having a week left until the end of the month and having reached just over half of our targets. This came as a surprise to us because our marketing strategy online had been very thorough, reached a large amount of interest and had received the interest of many individuals. At the markets we had caught an equal amount of attention. Our brand was strong, that we had no doubt about, but translating that into a sale proved a lot more difficult.

There are numerous reasons why sales could not have been moving. Firstly the rainy season is ending and it is not that common for individuals in the Southern hemisphere to buy raincoats at this time. To mitigate this risk though, we marketed our product for both winter and summer application, and we had targeted individuals in Joburg, knowing that their raining season full and well that their rainy season was at the end of the year. Another reason could be not being able to see the product and being hesitant to buy online, delivery expense etc.

So from this it was important to firstly acknowledge that I needed to buy the product myself and get anyone next to me to do so, because ultimately word of mouth and recommendation is still one of the best ways to gain interest. As a group we still need to connect with our product and own it ourselves because if we do not show the most amount of interest and faith, there is no reason for anyone else to. Secondly we have to make special offers without damaging the value of our brand and making it seem like a cheap product. This works with students who love receiving offers and specials. Our method here is going to be cutting delivery cost to zero for Cape Town for the final week when individuals have money. Then as we will be on break for a week and two of our members will be headed to Joburg, so we will give free delivery for the Joburgers during that week, by going with some of our stock. So at the end of August, it is still possible to get closer to our targets but reaching them would be a stretch. Regardless, we can still reach our targets for the two-month period, and will do everything in our power to supersede these!