Despite reports questioning the overall stability of the retail industry, businesses are continuing to thrive with e-commerce sales and fast fashion brands on the rise. The consequence of this growth, however, is that the volume of waste produced is escalating, most significantly from returns and excess stock that often end up in a landfill or destroyed due to retailers being unable to shift the products elsewhere.
Growing competition in the industry to make returns cheap and easy for consumers has resulted in an unprecedented number of items being returned, says B-Stock, the world’s leading auction platform for returned, excess and other liquidation inventory.
Online shoppers typically return around 30 per cent of the goods that they buy (compared to 8 per cent for in-store shoppers). Globally, the value of returned and excess inventory exceeds $1.2 trillion per year.
In the UK, 300,000 tonnes of clothing are sent to landfill every year – this includes garments that have never been worn or used. There is a pressing need to find a viable solution for retailers to quickly and easily alleviate this waste, in a way that will not further cut into their profits.
“Returns and excess stock contribute heavily to the amount of waste that retailers produce. With the environment facing the risks that it currently is, it is vital that we work together to change these outdated practices and instead utilise methods that will allow us to make a significant change,” said Ben Whitaker, B-Stock’s EMEA Director. “Supporting the circular economy is so important for companies in the current retailing climate, especially where brand ethics and transparency are increasingly affecting consumer’s purchasing decisions.”
There are alternative solutions for retailers, such as marketplace platforms that allow retailers to sell their returned and excess stock to thousands of business buyers, as opposed to being sent straight to landfill.
Whitaker added “There are so many opportunities now for retailers to shift stock in a way that is not only offsets loss, but more importantly, reduces the strain on the environment. Online auction platforms like the ones B-Stock operates allow retailers to sell their unwanted stock for maximum value in a controlled dynamic.”
By reworking traditional methods and replacing them with a new viable solution in the form of an online B2B liquidation marketplace, organisations have the potential to ethically repurpose and resell millions of items and in turn, alleviate wastage and landfill strain.
B-Stock is exhibiting at Internet Retailing EXPO at booth H5, NEC, Birmingham, 3-4 April 2019.
If you would like to arrange a briefing with Ben Whitaker, please contact bstock@proactive-pr.com or call +44 (0)1636 70888.