Resale Rules for Back to School (and Beyond)

For many parents, it’s the most wonderful time of the year: back-to-school season! And with students of all ages returning to classrooms, families across the country are hunting for apparel and school supply deals that balance quality with affordability.

According to NRF: 

• K-12 shoppers are budgeting $309.35 on average for electronics ($13.7 billion total), $253.29 for clothing and accessories ($11.2 billion total), $141.62 for school supplies ($6.3 billion total) and $170.43 for shoes ($7.6 billion total).
• College students and their families are expected to spend an average of $1,364.75 on items for the upcoming school year, in line with last year’s record of $1,366.95. Total back-to-college spending is expected to reach $86.6 billion, the second-highest figure in the history of the survey. Last year, total spending was forecast to hit a record $94 billion.
• Similar to past years, the most popular destinations for back-to-school shopping are online (57%), department stores (50%), discount stores (47%), clothing stores (42%) and electronics stores (23%).

Despite inflation cooling, 40% of back-to-school shoppers reported they would consider buying secondhand clothing this year and 71% of back-to-school and 67% of back-to-college students said it’s important they purchase items that are sustainable or environmentally friendly, per the survey.

With the secondary market putting all kinds of great inventory—from lunchboxes to laptops—on shelves for budget-friendly prices, many are turning to discount stores that offer lightly used or returned goods that can ease the financial burden of back-to-school shopping while ensuring students are well-prepared—and well-dressed to boot!

Brands & Retailers Benefit Too

The thriving secondary market also presents an opportunity for retailers and brands that might be saddled with returns or overstock once classes are back in session. While the influx of students and parents shopping for supplies is a well-known phenomenon, the aftermath of the rush is equally important to consider. The surge in returns, exchanges, and overstock that follows this period has an effect, thus retailers and manufacturers must anticipate, strategize, and manage to minimize disruptions to normal operations.

Many retailers and brands have begun to leverage B2B recommerce platforms to move out returned and excess merchandise across every back-to-school category. The benefits of this approach are threefold:

• The original brand or retailer can recover some of the value locked away in its unsold goods
• Small business owners keep their shelves stocked with high-quality, brand-name goods
• Budget-conscious consumers can purchase these goods at reasonable prices

With the circular economy delivering both supply and demand for once-owned goods, it’s well worth any brand’s time to look into the secondary market as an outlet for slow-moving inventory—and into online B2B recommerce solutions that can help them tap in.  

Your Go-To Solution for Moving Out Back-to-School Surplus

B-Stock is the world’s largest online B2B marketplace for returned and excess merchandise, and we specialize in connecting major manufacturers and retailers directly to trusted secondary market buyers from around the world, making us the ideal partner to help with moving out unsold back-to-school goods and other slow-moving seasonal inventory. Here’s why:

Under B-Stock’s Spot Sales solution, our classic auction-based resale model, many buyers compete over your goods in real time, fetching you the highest prices the market will supply. Plus, anyone—from major regional discount chains to side-hustling entrepreneurs—can join B-Stock as a buyer, so it’s likely that you’re operating closer to the end consumer versus selling into a long chain of brokers and wholesalers all taking their cut.

Beyond just a strong recovery rate, B-Stock can greatly improve the reliability of inventory reduction through an enormous buyer pool. Over the years, we’ve built a global network of over 500,000 buyers eager to secure inventory of all categories, quantities, and conditions. When one buyer drops off, there’s always another to take its place, and consolidating all your buyers on one platform means smoother communication and better buyer relationships.

While high prices and reliable recovery are certainly important, perhaps high-velocity inventory turnover is your main concern. If so, you may be interested in B-Stock’s other solutions: we also offer contract sales for those looking to move out large amounts of recurring surplus for highly predictable pre-negotiated prices, and we can even broker direct sales, where we’ll identify and approach relevant buyer on your behalf to move out irregular or one-off lots as quickly as possible.

Finally, B-Stock’s focus on data and advanced analytical capabilities are second to none in the recommerce space. Our platform records virtually every data point from every sale made across our marketplace, not only aiding your bookkeeping and compliance efforts but enabling us to help optimize your recommerce program. With instant access to your own storefront’s performance, nearly 20 years of historical marketplace data, and cutting-edge machine learning models and AI algorithms, B-Stock’s experts can help you accurately forecast sales and advise you on proven, numbers-backed reselling practices.

Ready to Get Started With B-Stock?

Whether it’s the school year or fiscal year that’s on your mind, you can be sure that each new September will bring a wave of back-to-school purchases and returns—and with B-Stock in your corner, this surplus doesn’t have to be a headache business anymore. If you’re looking for recovery, velocity, predictability—or any combination of these—you can browse our site to learn more about how we can help. For a taste of the powerful data at our fingertips, visit our self-service Recovery Insights page to see how many relevant buyers are in your area. Or, if you’re ready to dive in and speak with a member of our team, reach out and schedule a live demo today.