As holiday shopping kicks into full gear; returns are right around the corner. Are you ready?

As we head into Thanksgiving weekend, the holiday shopping season officially kicks into full swing with more than 135 million Americans planning to take advantage of deals that retailers have in store and online. Black Friday has turned into Grey Thursday (more retailers than ever are opening their doors to bargain hunters on Thanksgiving Day) and Small Business Saturday leads into Cyber Monday; it seems the Thanksgiving holiday has become less about turkey and football and more about five days’ worth of incentive to spend, spend, spend!

While retailers can expect huge margins this time of year as consumers get caught up in the spending madness, this time of year also brings impulse buying to a new level, leaving some buyers waking up Tuesday morning with a shopping hangover. Whether blamed on the turkey coma, the wine haze or getting caught up in the spirit of giving, many head back to the store, return in hand.

Holiday returns account for 10 percent of holiday sales; that’s around $60 billion worth of merchandise that retailers need to be prepared for. What’s more, a lot of this inventory can’t go back on store or virtual shelves, and that can equate to millions of dollars lost. But it doesn’t have to. By implementing an efficient solution for returned merchandise slated for the secondary market a retailer can recoup maximum value – post-holiday and all year round – and meaningfully impact its overall operating margin.

Five of the top six U.S. retailers, along with hundreds of others, have leveraged B-Stock’s award-winning, technology-based, and data-driven solutions to achieve a 30-80% higher recovery rate for their returned and excess inventory. This includes B2B and B2C Enterprise Solutions for large organizations and our SMB Solution: B-Stock Supply.

For more information on the clients we serve, please visit our B-Stock Sourcing Network. If you’re interested in learning more about how B-Stock can build a customized solution for returned, overstock or excess inventory – post holiday and all year round – please contact us.