In April 2024, Bidpath and the Reverse Logistics Association (RLA) surveyed you, the community of the RLA, on the sale of retail returns, overstock and surplus inventory. The ‘2024 Retail Returns Liquidation Survey’ focused on the process and priorities of RLA members in how they sold retail returns that didn’t end up back on the shelf.
As members of the reverse logistics industry, you already know the importance of understanding the approach to retail returns sales, and how insight can ultimately drive an increase in the amount of returns being resold and reduce the volume going to landfill or recycling. Our survey looked at how respondents approached challenges such as channel conflict, control over resale and minimising negative impacts of resold returns.
The survey focused on 4 areas of questioning, as shown below:
Some of the key areas we wanted to look at included:
- How many companies use Automated vs. Manual processes?
- Who prioritises Minimizing Channel Conflict over Recovery Rates when selling liquidated returns?
- The different channels used such as Auctions, Direct Sales or Liquidators.
- How much control do you want on who can buy the returns?
- Have you seen Negative Impacts from Unrestricted Sales?
We had 21 respondents from a wide range of backgrounds, industries and regions, including retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers, recyclers and many others.
The survey identified a range of different priorities and approaches from different respondents. For example:
- Manufacturers generally looked at having high levels of control over the sale process
- Retailers focused on maximising value
- Wholesalers placed ‘minimising negative impacts of resale’ in their top priorities
We also uncovered some surprising information as part of the survey, such as:
- 100% of those that preferred private, invite-only sales used a completely manual process to sell retail returns and surplus inventory
- 75% of respondents are sending some level of stock for recycling
- A strong desire for control over the resale process – over 86% of respondents were seeking for some level of control.
The survey also uncovered two clear groups which were characterised by their approach to risk and recovery rates, which we profiled in the survey report.
RLA Members can download the survey report from the RLA website. Please visit RLA, log in, and then visit this link: https://rla.org/product/1327
Our intention is for the survey to form a benchmark that will allow us to profile the priorities of the RLA membership over time. We hope you find useful insights in the survey report, and please do reach out if you wish to discuss any of the findings.
Dan Main is a director at Bidpath, providing white label bidding platforms for retailers, manufacturers and auctioneers. He has a strong focus on helping clients move from manual 'spreadsheet and email' based sales processes to an automated method. Dan has worked closely with retailers, manufacturers, government agencies and financial institutions over the last 18 years to design and implement strategies to optimise the resale of surplus assets. He has helped find new homes for items as diverse as military Humvees, the microphone used to record The Queen’s Christmas Day message, and $10 million of audio-visual equipment over 3 days. He lives in Cornwall, UK with his wife Salena and 1000 house plants.