According to the analysis the Lumia Windows phones are suffering a severe buildup in Q1. If sales do not materialize in Q2, the likelihood of a glut of excess inventory liquidation hitting the secondary market in Q3 is high. We’ll watch the market and see how it goes.

At the forefront of these industry innovations is B-Stock Solutions. B-Stock is on a mission to help retailers take back control of their liquidation efforts rather than handing them over to large liquidators who claim to be better equipped to handle it. By registering in B-Stock powered marketplaces, you don’t have to worry about finding quality merchandise because there is always something available from well-known companies, like: Walmart, Sam’s Club, hh gregg, The Journeys Group and Jasco Products. You can buy inventory from them only through their official liquidation marketplace. They post their lots for sale and all approved buyers have the opportunity to browse through it and make offers as they see fit. From electronics to designer handbags and more, you pick what you want and you don’t have to pay markups that traditional liquidators earn.

It is very simple to get started. Simply register with your chosen retailers based on the type of inventory you are looking for. Browse through the variety of listings and bid on a lot you want. Start small and slow until you learn a bit about the inventory of each seller. You want to make sure you understand the condition and quality of a retailer’s returns before you start buying in very large volumes.

Whether you sell on an auction site such as eBay or you have a flea market booth; you can get items that would otherwise cost you much more. And since inventory costs are such a significant portion of most businesses cost structure, it really helps to buy low.

Fortunately, there are plenty of big-name retailers who routinely sell overstock inventory that has lingered on shelves and in warehouses for too long and returns that have nowhere else to go. The current prolonged winter in the Northeast is creating an overstock of warm-weather clothing. The need to turn over seasonal inventories and the lengthy cold spell is increasing the likelihood of overstock among the major retailers. Combined with this excess inventory, the surging performance of the retail sector in the U.S. economy is creating a good opportunity for secondary market retailers to acquire quality items for very reasonable costs.

Not only is it likely there will be a glut of available inventory, it also appears that consumer are opening their wallets as the economy slowly recovers. Even with current challenges arising from the climate and energy costs affecting retail operations, the retail sector is still doing well, showing signs of improvement in same-store sales over last year. Most interestingly, the retail growth is being led by discount and apparel stores. Clearly, resellers should be looking to capitalize on this opportunity.

B-Stock solutions is ready to assist secondary market resellers to identify products that suit their eBay, Amazon, or other ecommerce shops. Through our network of major retailers looking to liquidate excess merchandise, we’ll provide you with access to high quality inventory for which you can name your price.

Visit the B-Stock Sourcing Network site at http://sourcing.bstocksolutions.com and we’ll get you connected.

We are excited to announce the launch of ALLTECH Wholesale Liquidations, the official B2B auction marketplace for ALLTECH Wholesale, a leader in consumer electronics liquidation. Located in Carrollton, Texas, ALLTECH Wholesale will offer merchandise including new and previously owned cell phones, gaming consoles, and a variety of other consumer electronics. As an approved member of the B-Stock Sourcing Network, you can register and be approved right away.

The site will offer a variety of used smart phones, including Apple iPhones, Samsung Galaxy and other leading brands. New auctions will range from 5 units up to 1,000 units (and more) and include iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy, iPhone 4S and more! All auctions start at $1 and shipping is free, so register now to start bidding.

We are excited to announce the launch of GameStop Wholesale Auctions. The GameStop Wholesale marketplace will offer pallets and truckloads of trade-ins, customer returns, closeouts and other excess inventories of Apple iPhones, iPads and iPods, video games games and consoles, other electronics, accessories and more.  As an approved member of the B-Stock Sourcing Network, you can register and be approved right away.

This is a site for serious, experienced buyers and lot sizes will range from the low tens of thousands of dollars to the mid-hundreds of thousands.  This is an opportunity for those with the ability to refurbish to buy inventory directly from GameStop, a national retailer with over 6,000 stores.  Auctions are now live, so be sure to register now to participate .

Welcome aboard, GameStop team!

Following are some of the retailers who are closing stores:

• Fashion Bug, which sells discount women’s apparel, is closing all 600 of their outlets following the earlier closing of 100 stores.
• Blockbuster, owned by Parent Dish Network, will lose 500 of its current 1500 locations. The rest may follow unless the chain is successful in updating their business model.
• Sears, which closed 172 stores last year, is now undergoing what some analysts call “an orderly liquidation” in which the rest of the stores will likely disappear.
• Abercrombie & Fitch is on track to close 180 outlets through 2015.
• Gap will be closing 100 stores as part of a multiyear downsizing plan began 6 years ago that will shutter 700 stores.
• Collective Brands, which owns Stride Rite and Payless, is closing 103 stores.
• Pacific Sunwear is closing 120 outlets.

And according to this listing for 2013:

• Macy’s is closing 5 stores.
• Bloomingdale’s, Coldwater Creek, Fred Meyer, Hallmark, Eddie Bauer, and Barnes & Noble are each closing one outlet.

While these numbers are not particularly good news for the local employees and corporate stockholders, they represent a great opportunity for resellers. The liquidation inventory from these chains has to go somewhere. Resellers who buy this inventory from the chains themselves stand to realize significant profits if they are careful and smart about it.

We will continue working to try to bring that direct access to all members of the B-Stock Sourcing Network to enable our small business members to grow their businesses profitably with a trustworthy and consistent supply of quality inventory.

Granted, this is a very wide range; however, even at the low end, that is an enormous percentage of overall expenses.  It really highlights the multiplier effect on expenses that inventory can have.  There is the cost of capital tied up in the inventory, the cost of warehouse space to hold it, insurance, write-down expenses as that inventory loses value, heat for the warehouse, employees to staff the warehouse, health insurance for those employees, etc., etc.

I also was reading a Reuters article by Phil Wahba and Dhanya Skariachan, titled “How US retailers are building  up their online muscle”.  In this article, the authors make the  point that brick and mortar retailers are developing strategies to go after online retail in a big way.  They are developing strategies to leverage their unique assets (or some may say ‘liabilities’)…their stores, but utilizing them as online order fulfillment locations.  This, they claim, will allow them to manage inventory much more carefully.

For example, Macys.com has sophisticated software that decides which store to ship an online order from based on the likelihood that the product would end up getting marked-down in that store.

The authors say, “From Macy’s to Home Depot Inc and Best Buy Co Inc , retail executives are racing to speed up order delivery and improve inventory management, which if done well, can help profit margins.”

If you believe the Stitch Labs numbers, this can have an even bigger impact than you might expect.

Of course, returns and excess, overstock inventory is a major component of this equation.  This all points to the importance for retailers of products like B-Stock’s Liquidation Sales Management solution.

There is one restriction in the marketplace which is that all inventory purchased on the site MUST be sold outside of the United States.  So, if you are a non-US buyer or a US buyer who has sales channels outside of the country, this is a fantastic opportunity to acquire some great inventory.

If this is right for you, visit the site at:  http://journeysgroup.genesco.com and get registered.  As with all B-Stock Sourcing Network sites, it’s free!

The only way for most businesses to buy returns directly from Walmart is via their official liquidation marketplace.  In this marketplace, Walmart lists and sells varying size lots of raw, unsorted returns of general merchandise and electronics.  You will find lots ranging in size from a single pallet to a full truckload.  The lots will sell for prices ranging from $1,000 to $50,000, depending on the  inventory included, but everything is started at $1 and sells to the high bidder.

There are two great things about buying returns from Walmart this way:  first, everything is auctioned starting at $1 and sells to the highest bidder.  This means the winner of every lot has named their own price!  Second, you are truly buying directly from Walmart.  This means there are no middlemen trying to make a profit by either marking up the prices or cherry picking the best items out of each lot.  You simply get the unsorted returns just as they come in and get palletized by Walmart.  In addition, you get a full manifest of every item in the lot, which includes the reason for the return on every item.

Register now to start buying Walmart returns to grow your business.

The marketplace offers small, pallet lots that are specifically assembled for eBay sellers all the way up to full truckloads of retail returns.  These lots span a wide range of merchandise categories, including:  general merchandise, electronics, and apparel.

We have known the Essex team for nearly 10 years and couldn’t be happier to now be powering a marketplace for them!