As a result of pandemic-driven store closures and record ecommerce growth – up an incredible 44% year over year[1] – many retailers are now overloaded with excess and returned inventory. They need better outlets that go beyond clearance racks or their existing channels to move these products. In this article, we’ll talk about the power of good returns solutions: why retailers should consider recommerce.

 

Do More Than Maximize Recovery

We’ve heard from retailers and brands that maximizing recovery is a top priority. Although this has been challenging for both in-store and online business this past year, retailers can leverage digital tools like Optoro’s Recommerce solution to meet recovery goals.

We recently helped a leading online home & design marketplace drive 91% unit resales and an impressive 150% increase in net recovery. By partnering with Optoro, this retailer can choose the channels where their returns would be sold, expand their customer base to increase velocity with instant listings across marketplaces, and move returns faster to expedite return to stock and quickly free up warehouse space.

Traditional liquidation channels often lack control over brand perception, use ineffective routing tools, and provide little benefit to the environment. A strong, technology-based recommerce solution can manage these factors while increasing the lifetime value of inventory, improving bottom lines for retailers.

 

See Resale Channels in Action

Many retailers have already expanded their returns solutions to include secondary channels. These channels include off-price retailers and websites, secondary marketplaces like Amazon or eBay, and Optoro’s proprietary B2B website, BULQ®. Each of them provide a great way for retailers to sell returns and excess inventory without impacting their forward channels. 

Another way Optoro’s customers are utilizing our Recommerce solution is through our partnership with eBay. By leveraging our respective proprietary technologies, we’re making sourcing and reselling inventory on eBay more efficient than ever, creating an enhanced secondary channel for the resale of retailers’ returned and excess goods. This powerful joint BULQ® offering provides both improved liquidity to retailers while also supplying quality inventory to resellers.

 

Explore Circular Business

While it’s important to keep in mind the financial advantages of recommerce, there are also significant sustainability benefits. Leaning into secondhand sales is proving to be a leading strategy for those seeking a circular business model. IKEA, for example, is investing in secondhand, buy-back, and resell channels for their furniture in the U.S., with the goal of becoming fully circular by 2030. Retailers hoping to make similar progress should look to improve their returns solutions now to stay ahead of competitors in the future.

 

Addressing returns and resale can be challenging. That’s why Optoro is here to help any retailers who are considering recommerce as a strategic returns solution. Schedule a demo with us today and we can help get you started.

 

Want to find out more about Recommerce? Explore these pages for details:

 

Sources:

1. U.S. ecommerce grows 44.0% in 2020 | Digital Commerce 360 | Jan 2021

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