The Best Way to Stock a Business in Kentucky
Offering the best products at reasonable prices that guarantee customer satisfaction and a healthy profit has always been the recipe for business success. However, when it comes to stocking your business nowadays, it is hard to secure the right volumes of merchandise at the prices that would ensure a healthy profit margin.
Take online businesses as an example. Anyone selling through eCommerce platforms such as Amazon is aware of the trend in which prices of single items are nearing those of wholesale products. This severely eats into the profit margin of a small business owner unable to stock up with large volumes of merchandise, driving the purchase prices down that way.
If you have sourced cheap wholesale merchandise previously you know that relationships with your suppliers can drive down prices too, but it takes time to get to the position to be given certain privileges. For those just starting out, liquidation companies could actually be a better source. Unlike wholesale suppliers, most liquidators don’t purchase the merchandise they sell, they act as a platform through which retailers and manufacturers liquidate their merchandise faster by offering it in various volumes to a larger online customer base. This not only keeps the prices down but opens the doors for a specific type of merchandise to be liquidated: closeout and overstock.
Whatever your choice of volume is if you are looking for brand new items to stock your Kentucky business, the source is right there, but first, let’s explain the benefits of closeouts and overstock merchandise.
What is Closeout and Overstock Merchandise?
Let’s use clothing as an example for the purpose of this article. This type of merchandise is seasonal. This means that when the fall and winter approach, the summer clothes are either packed and stored or often liquidated through liquidation companies. The clothes that remain unsold during a season is considered closeout merchandise.
The overstock merchandise is similar, but not exactly the same. This type of merchandise is a result of a management, or ordering, error- an order that was too large to begin with. The store manager either made a bad call when anticipating the market movements or simply ordered an excessive amount of merchandise by mistake. Such merchandise very often does not even see the store shelves.
What these two types of merchandise have in common is what makes them appealing to business owners looking to improve the profitability of their Kentucky business.
The advantages are multiple, but we will start with an important one, quality. When considering buying through a liquidation business, you are faced with a fact that the majority of merchandise sold is actually customer return pallets. While there can be some gems here and there, it is often used merchandise. However, closeouts and overstock merchandise are quite the opposite. This merchandise has not been used or sold before. It was either displayed on the shelves or stored in the warehouse, meaning it is in brand new condition.
Very often you will see closeout merchandise liquidated with price tags still attached. When speaking about electronic devices such as smartphones or laptops, whenever a new model of a certain product is unveiled, the older models that are left unsold may be packed and liquidated, meaning you can buy a pallet of electronics at great discounts.
The second benefit, that might be even more interesting to a Kentucky business owner is the fact that closeout and overstock merchandise is sold at prices 25 to 50 percent below wholesale. If you were buying merchandise by the pallet previously through online wholesale suppliers in order to sell online, you must have noticed that your profit margin is very slim. The price of closeout and overstock merchandise allows you more room to play and enables you to actually be very competitive in a tight market. In combination with the quality of the merchandise, you are in a good position to elevate your business to a new level.
Business owners in Kentucky have another advantage in their hands as they can purchase closeout and overstock merchandise right in their backyard. But let us talk about the source in more detail.
Sourcing Closeouts and Overstock Merchandise
The sourcing part is the tricky part. While you could buy through wholesale suppliers we already noted the issue of pricing, which is less of a problem when buying through liquidators.
However, buying through liquidation companies does come with its own risks. You can’t simply purchase merchandise from the first company your search engine offers. This is where your research skills come into play. And putting in some work here will lead to fewer headaches in the future as well as better business results. The focus is on finding a reputable company that not only offers great service but has received rave reviews from its customers.
You have to find a reputable company to work with. These companies usually have exclusive contracts in place with retailers and manufacturers guaranteeing the quality of merchandise. In addition, for every pallet on offer, you receive a detailed manifest; a list showing you the type of items in the pallet, the quantity, and the quality. If your supplier is withholding that information, you should back out of any deals you might be negotiating.
And to repeat, business owners in Kentucky have a significant advantage over other business owners, because they can not only purchase closeouts and overstock merchandise in their state but can also do it through a reputable liquidation company which offers merchandise at prices below wholesale.
Direct Liquidation, a company offering liquidated stock is also a platform for manufacturers and retailers to liquidate their closeouts and overstock merchandise, and it all ships from its Kentucky warehouse by the truckload, or pallet.
This is the third advantage, lower shipping costs. It is very important to keep all the procurement costs as low as possible in order to maximize your profit in the end. So if you had any doubts before, Direct Liquidation is where to buy closeouts by the pallet in Kentucky. Â
Don’t forget to also make sure you register your business in Kentucky.
Direct Liquidation is a goTRG company.
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.