How off-price retail fits in the secondary market

In the world of off-price retail—where major retailers sell excess inventory at bargain prices—sales are on pace to reach $18 billion to $19 billion by 2021, according to JPMorgan analysts. Historically, most of this inventory was sold through so-called ‘bargain basement’ retail stores such as T.J. Maxx and Ross Dress for Less. But as department stores close and/or look for ways to offset loss for this excess stock, an opportunity for SMB owners opens up.

More consumers than ever are shopping for discounted clothing. As Retail Dive reports, the off-price secondary retail market is, stunningly durable—it’s fed when the economy is poor and budgets are tight, but still thrives in a healthy market, like right now. This creates an opportunity for small business owners to open their own clearance, thrift, discount—call it what you will—apparel store in markets where department stores are closing.

In the past, it was extremely difficult for a small business owner to gain access to a retailer’s returned and overstock inventory. Sourcing inventory—such as apparel, cell phones and appliances—was done through a liquidator. That was then and this is now: as the amount of returns have increased (along with the need to offset more loss for returned and excess inventory), local liquidators can’t always keep up and major retailers now want access to more buyers.

This is where B-Stock comes into the picture: we provide an online auction platform that connects major retailers looking to sell overstock and returned items to a network of qualified small business owners who can resell that merchandise at their own clearance stores and online destinations. This allows for:

• Direct relationships between buyers and sellers: ditch the middleman liquidator and sell to/buy from the source
• Transparency: know exactly who you are transacting with
• Greater access: sell/buy any product, all conditions, all lot sizes; from pallets to truckloads
• Network effect: our global marketplace network means greater exposure—connecting the right sellers to the right buyers