Liquidity Services : Maximize Recovery for Back-to-School Surplus

Liquidity Services- August 25, 2017

Hear those school bells ringing already? Summer's gone, school's back in, and for most retailers and consumer brands, the back-to-school rush has already come and gone, leaving them wondering what to do with their overstock school supplies, from laptops to clothing. A recent study by the National Retail Federation estimates that parents will spend nearly $83.6 billion on school supplies this year - 10% over last year's spending - and that by September, only 15% of parents will be finished with their back-to-school shopping. This means the buyers are still out there, but where? How do you best connect with them?

Reach Buyers Through Secondary Marketplaces

Thanks to a steady stream of media coverage from respected outlets such as Apparel Magazine, CBC News, The Washington Post, and more, secondary online marketplaces are quickly becoming go-to sources for buyers of bulk school supplies and savings-conscious parents. By making your goods available on these marketplaces, you can capture your share of this market and turn your overstock school supplies into cash.

Select the Right Marketplace

Once you've made the decision to sell your surplus through secondary marketplaces, the next step is deciding how to do it. Expert partners will offer a variety of choices, including traditional B2B and B2C channels. Which one is right for you? It depends on your items and goals, but often a mix of channels is best. For high-value items such as tablets and smartphones, B2C channels help you capture the highest percentage of recovery for individual items. For lower-value items like apparel or notebooks, selling them by the truck or palletload through B2B marketplaces or direct sales is often the best route to maximize total recovery.

Find the Right Buyers

Whichever online marketplace you select, make sure it's committed to promoting your items through multichannel marketing efforts. These can include organic and paid search advertising, custom email marketing to a proprietary buyer database, social media, and targeted online advertising.

Getting Started

To learn more about selling your surplus inventory on the secondary market, read our ebook, How to Sell Your Surplus Inventory. This ebook provides a proven guide to help you sell your overstock goods.

Or contact us for more information on how we can help you with your surplus assets.