By leveraging online marketplaces retailers can reduce the amount of returned and excess stock that is sent to landfill while offsetting loss, says B-Stock
London, UK, 15 May 2019: B-Stock, the world’s largest marketplace for returned, excess and other liquidation merchandise, has today announced that the number of European buyers registered on its B-Stock Supply Europe marketplace is growing an average of 30% each month. This reflects a growing demand for products on the secondary market as more businesses and consumers look to embrace the circular economy.
Returned and excess stock is a problem for every retailer: in the UK alone £60 billion of stock is returned each year. Whether a global retailer or a smaller specialty shop, most companies undervalue their returned and excess stock by 30-80%. Worse, when it comes to damaged or obsolete goods, a great majority of items are sent to landfill; in 2016, the UK generated 41.1 million tonnes of commercial and industrial waste. However, B-Stock offers a solution for the waste that is placing a strain on the retail industry.
“There is a huge secondary market demand for returned, excess and used goods, and the trick is knowing how to tap into this market. Today’s largest retailers are using online marketplace solutions to gain access to a global buyer base, however you don’t have to be a global retailer to utilise these marketplace solutions,” said Ben Whitaker, B-Stock’s EMEA Director. “B-Stock Supply is an online auction marketplace where SMBs can sell returned and excess merchandise directly to business buyers. The marketplace is auction based: you can list inventory across any category, condition, or lot size and have thousands of buyers bid for it. The competition drives up pricing.”
By selling on B-Stock Supply, retailers have access to a buyer base that is growing 30% month over month, enabling them to efficiently move and offset loss from overstock.
Buyers using the Supply platform are located across Europe, with heavy concentrations in Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Romania. Reflecting the European market, the most popular categories on B-Stock Supply are Home & Garden, Fashion and Consumer Electronics.
“Another benefit of selling on B-Stock Supply is what we call the Network Effect: in addition to Supply, B-Stock operates private online auction marketplaces for today’s largest retailers, including the European division of the world’s largest e-commerce retailer and a leading UK department store,” said Whitaker. “When you list your inventory on Supply, the listing will appear next to listings from both national and international retailers. You won’t get that type of exposure elsewhere.”