Dead Stock, Live Results: How BabyCoo Resurrected Stagnant Inventory

Discover how this children's toy retailer cleared dead stock while boosting premium product sales through smart inventory-focused promotions.
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27%

Increase in average order value within 3 months of implementation

59.18%

Store orders were generated by apps campaigns

51.5%

Store’s revenue in the past 30 days came from orders created by app campaigns

Introduction

BabyCoo is a premium children’s toy and accessories retailer that has carved out a distinctive niche in the competitive kids’ products market. Founded on the principles of safety, affordability, and educational growth, BabyCoo specializes in high-quality toys, balance bikes, and unique children’s accessories that combine innovative design with exceptional value.

Challenges

BabyCoo faced several pressing challenges that threatened their growth trajectory:

  • Stagnant High-Value Inventory: Premium products like balance bikes ($120-$180) and large educational playsets ($55-$180) had slow turnover rates, tying up significant capital and warehouse space. These high-margin items were essential for profitability but intimidating for price-sensitive customers.
  • Accumulating Dead Stock: Seasonal items and overstocked accessories were creating inventory bloat. Products like winter-themed toys, specific color variants, and discontinued models were taking up valuable storage space and depreciating in value.
  • Low Purchase Motivation for Expensive Items: Parents often hesitated to purchase higher-priced items, viewing them as significant investments. The lack of immediate perceived value made customers compare prices extensively and often abandon purchases for cheaper alternatives.
  • Warehouse Space Optimization: With limited storage capacity, BabyCoo needed to move specific inventory items quickly to make room for new seasonal products and trending items. Storage costs were eating into margins.

Solution Implementation

BabyCoo implemented a strategic Buy X Get Y campaign using AOV Free Gift, specifically targeting high-value products as triggers and slow-moving inventory as gifts to solve both challenges 

  • Strategic Inventory-Focused Campaign Setup: BabyCoo designed their Buy X Get Y campaigns with a clear dual purpose – incentivizing purchases of high-value products while clearing slow-moving inventory. They identified their premium product categories as triggers and paired them with complementary items that had been sitting in inventory for extended periods.
  • High-Value Triggers: Premium products with strong profit margins but slower sales velocity
  • Strategic Gifts: Slow-moving accessories, seasonal items, and overstocked products that complement the main purchase
  • Value Perception: Gifts representing 15-25% of the trigger product’s value to create meaningful incentive
  • Complementary Pairing: Ensuring gifts enhanced the overall product experience rather than seeming random
  • Multi-Layer Discount Integration

BabyCoo leveraged AOV Free Gift’s compatibility with Shopify’s native discount system to create irresistible offers:

  • High-Value Product Discounts: Percentage discounts on premium items to reduce initial purchase barriers
  • Order Discounts: Progressive savings at different cart value thresholds to encourage larger purchases
  • Shipping Discounts: Free shipping incentives to offset the psychological impact of expensive items
  • Buy X Get Y Promotions: Automatic gift addition with qualifying high-value purchases
  • Inventory Movement Strategy

The campaign design prioritized:

  • Margin Optimization: Focused on products with the highest profit margins as triggers
  • Inventory Age: Targeted gifts based on how long items had been in stock
  • Storage Efficiency: Prioritized clearing bulky or space-consuming items
  • Seasonal Relevance: Matched seasonal deadstock with appropriate trigger products
  • Visual Merchandising for Premium Products

Enhanced promotion visibility specifically for high-value items:

  • Premium Product Badges: Clear free gift messaging on expensive items 
  • Value Calculators: Showing total savings including free gift value 
  • Urgency Messaging: Creating scarcity around limited inventory gifts 
  • Congrats Bar: Celebrating high-value purchases with exclusive language.

Results

BabyCoo’s targeted Buy X Get Y campaigns delivered exceptional results in addressing both inventory and revenue challenges within four months:

  • Inventory Management Success: The strategic campaign approach successfully transformed BabyCoo’s inventory challenges into opportunities. Premium items that had previously been slow movers began flying off the shelves, with significant increases in sales of high-value products like balance bikes and educational playsets.

  • Customer Behavior Changes: Perhaps most importantly, the campaigns successfully changed how customers interacted with BabyCoo’s premium products. Conversion rates for high-value items improved dramatically as the free gift incentives reduced purchase hesitation.

  • Financial Performance: The financial impact exceeded expectations across all key metrics. Average order values increased significantly as customers were incentivized to purchase higher-priced items they might have previously overlooked.

Key Takeaways

BabyCoo’s inventory-focused Buy X Get Y strategy offers valuable insights for retailers facing similar challenges:

  • High-Value Triggers + Dead Stock Gifts: This combination maximizes both revenue and inventory turnover while providing genuine customer value.
  • Perceived Value Over Discounts: Customers valued receiving free products more than equivalent monetary discounts, even though the cost to the business was often less.
  • Promotion as Inventory Tool: Using promotions strategically to manage inventory is more effective than traditional clearance sales that damage brand perception.
  • Reducing Purchase Barriers: Free gifts made expensive items feel more accessible and justified, particularly for budget-conscious parents.
  • Movement Velocity Tracking: Choosing gifts based on inventory age and movement speed ensured maximum operational benefit.
  • Revenue Acceleration: Converting slow-moving inventory into immediate sales significantly improved cash flow and reinvestment capacity.

Conclusion

BabyCoo’s success demonstrates how strategic Buy X Get Y campaigns can simultaneously solve inventory challenges and drive revenue growth. By focusing on high-value products as triggers and slow-moving items as gifts, they created a win-win situation that benefited both operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

 

Author Avatar
Daniel Ha

Daniel Ha is the CEO of AOV.ai, with years of experience building Shopify apps that help merchants sell more. He has created AI-powered tools that boost Average Order Value through smart pre-purchase to post-purchase optimization. Daniel's mission is to democratize advanced revenue strategies, making personalized AOV growth accessible to merchants of all sizes.

Brand stats
Industry

Toys & Hobbies

App Used

AOV Free Gift

Location

Australia

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