Flash sales to work out unsold stocks: 2 Italian stories

Risolvere l’invenduto con le flash sales: 2 storie italiane 

The flash sales model is proving to be a winning and effective move to work out the issue of unsold stocks, left over after the previous season collections, and therefore clear warehouses. More convenient prices alongside consistently changing services are successfully driving the boom of such business model.  The cases of Veepee and BrandUp Group evidence that undoubtedly

We are namely talking about flash sales. They are a relevant sale channel to work out unsold stocks. In other words, they are “lightning sales”. They usually apply to articles and items, from the previous season, which are put up for sale at convenient price, on a limited range of time. Where? Online, of course, on a few specific portals, whose business trend is enjoying an authentic boom. Here are two Italian stories, which evidence that.

To work out unsold stocks, story number 1

The first story is about Veepee platform, which may proudly rely, in Italy, on 12 million customers (in total, there are 66 million buyers in the world, and every day 4,5 million single visitors get access to the platform). In 2020, they sold 600,000 luxury articles, twice as much compared to the year before. Looking at Italian customers, who bought luxury items on Veepee, two third of them are composed of women, while one third consists of Millennials.

What action did Veepee take to promote sales? They created “a premium context”: here a few selected products, whose quantity is specifically fixed, compared to the brand identity, are on display on a limited range of time. Furthermore, a selected clientele has been given access to sales. “Each sale turns out to be a unique shop, a customised channel and an exclusive space fulfilling buyers’ demand and meeting their communication codes”, emphasized Andrea Scarano, Veepee Italy country manager.

Flash sales, story number 2

Riccardo Luciani is the Chief Executive Officer of BrandUp Group, a company which specializes in footwear flash sales: despite the crisis caused by Covid outbreak, their revenues enjoyed a considerable boost. “From the beginning of 2021 until present our earnings increased by over 200%. In other words, our overall turnover is growing triple. If our business trend keeps up this way, in 2021 our group will experience and benefit from a real growth: we may well say that”.

Such rewarding performance is mostly driven by a repeatable and scalable business model, which looks appealing to a few investment funds. Likewise, according to that model, when it comes to unsold stocks and the way to work them out, the business trends of the so-called “normal” market still prevail, for the time being.

Particularly comfortable and white sneakers are still the ones buyers like the best. Yet, in the last few months, we have been observing that sandals, especially the most elegant models, are getting extremely popular again. Such trend is rather noticeable in France. As regards men’s shopping, running sneakers are undoubtedly the most searched and best-selling item. When it comes to shopping, the choice does not depend on colour. More than everything else, the brand is what buyers care about”.

Those brands rely on some business players such as BrandUp Group. Yet such brands, wrapped up Luciani, “are now able to face and tackle the present crisis more effectively. We have seen that the management of unsold stocks is now less improvised and production is better thought out”.

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