£1million stock needs shifting!

[ThePerfectOffice]

I have a friend whose the MD of a very well known brand manufacturer.

Apparently there is about £1 million worth of obsolete (not out of date) stock taking up space in a warehouse and it needs shifting. They can't sell it directly here as it clashes with their current range offered in retail outlets. Could send it abroad but it probably would end up back here on the grey market anyhow.
I suggested just shifting it directly onto the grey market here in th UK but can't think of a way to do it. Just to investigate we put a few items on eBay to test popularity and they all went very quickly. Any ideas?

 

[Simon-M]

Just to investigate we put a few items on eBay to test popularity and they all went very quickly. Any ideas?

So how long would it take you to shift the lot on ebay?

 

[sysops]

What is the stock? You don't have to name the brand, but what type of products are they?

 

[ThePerfectOffice]

So how long would it take you to shift the lot on ebay?

Forever!! I think flooding eBay would be extremely hard work logistically. Prefer to bulk shift them and to do that by ebay it would be obvious that the manufacturer is the seller - damaging to their retail customers.
I'm assuming the value quoted is the retail value. We sold them at half that. It's not something I'm really getting involved in as it's just a discussion I had with said friend - however, I would if I can make any decent % through bulk shifting it.

 

[ThePerfectOffice]

What is the stock? You don't have to name the brand, but what type of products are they?

the stock is cosmetics

 

[sysops]

Is it a wide range of cosmetics, or just one product type (if so, what?)

 

[ThePerfectOffice]

It's a small number of different products but lots of each. Some no doubt will sell better then others.

 

[sysops]

It's a small number of different products but lots of each. Some no doubt will sell better then others.

I would say your best options are:

1. Email a few wholesalers who don't currently stock any ranges from this manufacturer.

2. Email a few online cosmetics sites who don't stock this brand.

In both cases, explain that this is surplus stock being sold at a discount. Come up with a reasonable wholesale unit, to make selling it easier - maybe £500 or £1000 worth of stock per unit.

 

[Successful Selling]

I've PM'd you.

 

[paretowasright]

Hi,

There should be a number of discount wholesalers who would move this stock into pre agreed channels for your friend. The other option is to put it through pound shops or people like Savers, Wilkinson etc. I would have thought your friends company should already have trading relationships with these retailers and disposal of obsolete brands should be part of their ongoing strategy?
Perhaps he has inherited a badly run business?
If you want to send me a PM we can take this offline if you want to discuss further. I have a background in this industry as you probably gathered.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

third party promotion/incentives.

There are a few companies that move volumes that nobody ever hears about - pens, watches, electronics - it's amazing how big this market is and it never hits retailers radars!

 

[ThePerfectOffice]

Hi,
Perhaps he has inherited a badly run business?

Spot on. It's a relatively new position for my friend who has unearthed major issues like this. The company seems to have concentrated on feeding it's major customers and individuals left to order inappropriatly.

The question raised here followed from an evening spent over a bottle (or three) of wine. I will put forward suggestions and offers raised here & via PM's.

Thank you for all input.

 

[Stockends]

Try our new site stockends.com

Made precisely for such dilemmas!

 

[movietub]

I thought line-end auctions was the typical route for this sort of thing? Then onto market traders stalls and so on.

Did you find anyone to buy it on here yet? Maybe if you listed quantities of each type of cosmetic product you would be contacted by people on here who could sell them.

Its fair to say there WILL be someone on here who can sell them so you just need the info to attract their attention.

Maybe re-post £1m of cosmetics stock for quick sale or similar.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Stockends - you site is nice and clean and I wish you luck, however, as it looks like you are based in the UK, you should try to meet the requirements for websites.

 

[Christiane]

Here are a few found on google
http://www.stockwizards.co.uk/
http://www.selftrading.co.uk/

I am sure you can find others if you google the right words.

 

[BeautyScientist]

At first I thought I knew which company you meant, but on reflection I think this is a fairly common situation in this sector.

One original solution I have heard is hiring hotels and other venues and doing a local 'special' at knock down prices. If you keep away from the big cities nobody in the trade need ever know it is even going on.

 

[Tej]

lol.. a month after the last post
But I imagine time stands still in your business sector

 

[new2bus]

I have a friend whose the MD of a very well known brand manufacturer.

Apparently there is about £1 million worth of obsolete (not out of date) stock taking up space in a warehouse and it needs shifting. Any ideas?

mmm, and your friend hasn't. I have to ask the obvious, but is this stuff legit?

No offence but, just seems a strange question.

 

[Anton3]

i just wonder at the efficacy and moral rectitude (i love these catholic-style words today) (moral rectitude indeed) of wanting to shift a stockpile of goods that consumers have one way or another chosen to leave unpurchased.

the selling of excess stock is, born in thatcher's time (the way it's run today), the bane of our lives and the raison d'etre of 90% of the slime in london (by slime i mean sales people who don't have the moral rectitude of those of us who prefer to use the gab gift for getting ENOUGH, and then saving the world).

however, since we're in a crash, the entire world is getting richer than us and the more of "us" are rich the more likely i'll have lots of rich british clients, i'll give you this pair of cents:

set up your own retail website (why ebay? can't you put a mere webshop up? it's about 16 minutes of html to the overskilled, and about 1000 quid to the clueless) and retail the whole damn lot of them - to whatever country you want. my advice - retail them to the USA - they buy ANYTHING there. all our mad cow beef went there. originally, centuries ago, all our mad puritans went there. rumour has it that on noah's ark there was no loo, and the animals all dropped their load in the ocean, and eventually a landmass was formed out of it which, quite a number of centuries after my school was founded, was declared to be "the indies" by christopher columbus, who was obviously pretty rubbish at reading maps and roadsigns.

 

[ThePerfectOffice]

Well the old thread has resurrected. The decision made was to set up a distribution in Russia & Poland to move this legit though non UK/USA current range with the risk it ends up back here.

 

[new2bus]

ah, I did not notice the date of original post.

Nice to know the outcome though.