If you run a business, you understand the importance of efficiency. Customers are looking to find a more convenient way to shop, save money, and save time. You are looking to find a more convenient way to handle products and sell more, faster. Kitting is a way to do both—offloading inventory while appealing to clients.
What is product kitting? If you've ever bought an entertainment system, you know what a kit is. Instead of purchasing individual components—the TV set, speakers, and cables—you buy the whole system together. A kit is a group of related items packaged as a single SKU.
Let’s explore why kitting is worthwhile and break down the best ways to go about it in 2020.
Kitting might be the ticket to a sudden sales boost. When you offer clients the option to purchase kits, you encourage them to buy in bulk. Their reward is a discount. Your gain is an increased average order value (AOV) and reduced shipping costs.
Kitting can help you to:
You can cut distribution costs drastically by kitting. Begin by analyzing your customer's buying behaviors; kitting is best suited for items customers buy together.
For instance, if your business deals in office supplies, you might notice customers often order a stapler and a staple remover together. You can preassemble all the items as a kit and sell and ship them as one unit.
If you ship items separately, you’ll need wrapping, a box, and a packing slip for each item. You’ll also need sufficient infill in each box to avoid denting, chipping, or breaking during shipment. Kitting is better for your wallet and the environment.
Kitting also makes the order weigh less due to efficient packing, lowering shipping costs. It even lowers pick-and-pack labor costs, because the items are all together. Talk about a good deal.
During the busy holiday season, kitting can be a massive relief to buyers who have limited time for shopping. For instance, if your regular client needs a range of bath products, bundling them in a kit saves them time and the burden of research. Your business expertise will help you to include all the essential items in one kit. Your client can then find what they need right away.
Kitting is an excellent way of getting rid of slow-moving stock. Just add any products you need to offload into a kit with fast-moving goods and watch the inventory disappear.
If you would like customers to try a new product, kitting is a natural way to get them to do so. Bundle popular products with the one you need to introduce to your buyers. It is the most comfortable and cheapest method of introducing something new to your patrons.
Kitting makes your inventory management more streamlined and organized.
For instance, when your employees need to assemble an order, kitting reduces the stress of locating all the necessities. Whether you are running your business out of your bedroom or out of a warehouse, it helps to have them located in one place and not scattered all over. You can repurpose the freed up space for other vital operations.
If your business is larger scale, the organized working environment helps lower labor costs because your employees don't have to spend as much time running around. Moreover, the freed up space helps delay the need for expensive expansions. Just another one of the ways kitting puts money back in your wallet.
Birchbox, Allure Beauty Box anyone? We all know makeup is great product to kit. In addition to cosmetics, here are some other natural products for kitting:
If you’re planning to add kitting to your business, you need to know the savviest ways to implement it. Here are a few trendy methods of kitting used today.
The market for eCommerce subscriptions has grown tremendously in the recent past. A subscription is a recurring order that you deliver to clients on regular intervals. You can allow your clients to customize the kit or surprise them with your selection.
This method of selling kits can be a goldmine once you get a significant number of monthly subscribers as it gives your business a steady flow of income and sky-high customer lifetime value (LTV).
Some clients love the opportunity to select their own sets. It makes buying more personalized and creative. You can add a discount on larger kits to entice clients to purchase more product at once.
You can even offer kits of products that pair well together to guide your customer towards enjoyable combos. You can also assemble seasonal kits for special periods like holiday seasons for a reliable sales boost.
Kitting makes it easy to combine packing processes with inventory tracking. You can manage to kit in three main ways:
If your company is small, implementing kitting processes by yourself can be the best option. It gives you more control over operations and service quality. You’ll know the exact quantity of resources needed to fulfill orders, and you also work at your own pace.
In-house kitting might work well for small firms, but it's no small operational lift. Your business may grow at a speed where it can’t keep up with its kitting needs. Here are some reasons you might need to outsource your product kitting needs to a third party fulfillment center:
Many producers or manufacturers can kit your items on-site, preparing them to go straight to a 3PL for distribution.
Hook Logistics offers excellent kitting services, without confusing or surprising fees, as part of our fulfillment services. Our e-Commerce fulfillment services include:
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