Can Your Sport and Fitness Store Make More Profits Reselling Customer Returns?

It seems the western world has turned a corner of late as more and more people put down the cheeseburgers and take up sports and fitness instead. Gym membership numbers have exploded in America, rising from 30 million in the year 2000 to nearly 60 million by 2016; and the interest in exercising at home and participating in team and individual sports has increased considerably alongside that impressive statistic.

So, good times for the sports and fitness store owner, yes? Well, possibly not. While interest in sports and fitness may be increasing, sports and fitness retailers could be missing out on cashing in on this boom thanks to the purchasing decisions they make when sourcing stock.

If you run a sports and fitness store, you’ll no doubt have noticed a rather dispiriting trend developing when purchasing merchandise from traditional wholesale sources. In recent years, the prices wholesalers have been offering have become worryingly similar to retail prices. The effect? Squeezing out almost any chance a retailer has of making a healthy a profit.

So, what’s the solution if you wish to benefit from the boom in sports and fitness interest without breaking the bank? For many sports and fitness store owners, the answer is to source customer returns wholesale from a reputable online liquidation marketplace. And it’s not hard to see why when you hear about the benefits.

Customer Returns – A Great Way To Source Stock

Unlike traditional wholesalers (and indeed some liquidators), top-tier liquidators such as Direct Liquidation are online wholesale suppliers who offer platforms through which some of the country’s largest retail companies can sell their unwanted customer returns to businesses looking for ways to reduce their costs, but still buy great-quality merchandise from some of the biggest manufacturers in the world.

Every year, retail giants such as Target, Home Depot, Walmart and Amazon take back hundreds and thousands of items thanks to such things as buyer’s regret, an item not working, an unwanted present or, in the case of sports clothing (for example), because the customer didn’t try on an item of clothing in store and discovered it does not fit or they don’t like it when they try it on at home.

Despite being basically brand new (if, in certain cases, slightly damaged, visibly damaged or tested-not-working), these customer returns are no longer classified as such, meaning retailers’ warehouses across the country have shelves groaning with perfectly good merchandise they do not have the space to sell, especially as they would have to take up valuable space store space, and sell this type of stock at a discount. The big retailers don’t want to do this because that is space that could be taken up with brand new, full-priced merchandise.

So, what do big retailers do? They need to dispose of this stock, and dispose of it quickly to free up that valuable shelf space. That’s where a liquidator steps in. A liquidation business provides a space where big name retailers can sell their customer returns to business customers such as sports and fitness stores. And because they’re willing to take a hit on cost, businesses can pick up these returns at a fraction of their true value.

Buying Customer Returns Couldn’t Be Easier

Check out a liquidator’s online liquidation marketplace and you’ll find plenty of pallets of top quality sports and fitness equipment being offered at incredibly low prices. Customer return pallets of sports and fitness equipment from names such as Shimano, Bell Sports, Apple and Razor can be bought in small lots, by the pallet or in truckloads or partial truckloads depending on the amount of stock you require.

You can buy a pallet of the sports and fitness equipment your business needs in live auctions that take place throughout the day. If a pallet of cheap wholesale merchandise attracts your attention, you can set up an email alert which will notify you when the auction is about to start. Then it’s just a matter of placing your bids and if you’re successful, arranging pickup of your purchases from one of a liquidator’s distribution facilities, or letting the liquidator handle the shipping. In the case of Direct Liquidation’s site, you can find out what the shipping will cost you via the shipping cost calculator that you’ll find on each lot the company features on its site.

If bidding is not for you, you can buy a pallet of stock at a fixed price, or you can make the liquidator an offer. Do this, and you might just walk away with an even better bargain when buying returns pallets.

Making A Profit On Your Sports And Fitness Purchases

Thanks to the unique relationship a liquidator such as Direct Liquidation enjoys with the retailers it provides a platform for – among them Walmart liquidations – you’ll find a huge range of sports and fitness equipment on their online marketplace being offered for sale by big name retailers and other sources at prices you’ll struggle to find elsewhere.

Unlike traditional wholesalers, smaller liquidators and unscrupulous liquidators masquerading as one of the big boys, a top-tier liquidator such as Direct Liquidation does not sift through the pallets of tested and untested customer returns it handles, so you’ll find plenty of great-quality sports and fitness equipment in a mixed pallet of returns, from ‘as new’ merchandise, to ‘slightly damaged’ and ‘visibly damaged’, to ‘tested-not-working’. This means you’ll be able to sell the items you purchase at a variety of price points that will suit customers from different income streams. And because there’s no cherry-picking going on, you’ll never be tricked into buying a pallet of liquidated stock that’s basically a box of unsellable garbage.

All this means one thing – you’ll have purchased a pallet, pallets or truckload of top-quality merchandise coming direct from some of the biggest retailers in the United States at a fraction of its MSRP. This means you’ll be able to sell what you purchase to your customers at a much more attractive, much lower price, and it also means you’ll be able to stay ahead of the competition and increase your chances of customer retention.

Retail is a tough business to be in these days, especially when you run a bricks and mortar operation. With margins growing ever tighter, it’s vital that you give yourself some breathing space, especially if you’re going to enjoy the fruits of a burgeoning interest in sports and fitness.

By buying merchandise by the pallet or truckload from an online liquidation marketplace such as Direct Liquidation, you’ll give yourself that breathing space and continue to benefit from what is now one of the most potentially lucrative emerging retail markets in America.

View all Sports, Fitness and Outdoors lots here.

Direct Liquidation is a goTRG company.

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Henley Johnson

Henley currently works as a sales representative for Direct Liquidation, assisting businesses with product sourcing of liquidated merchandise from the largest retailers in the world. Whether you are looking for a pallet or a truckload Henley is here to help you grow your business.

View Henley’s Bio on YouTube.