Stockshifters.com becomes the first dedicated trade marketplace to tap the UK’s £20 billion secondary goods market
Stockshifters.com becomes the first dedicated trade marketplace to tap the UK’s £20 billion secondary goods market
Stockshifters.com, a division of E-Trader Group, has launched as the UK’s first trade marketplace for secondary goods, providing retailers and manufacturers with a dedicated online facility to sell overstock, end-of-line or clearance stock and returns to trade buyers.
The division said it holds the largest database of traders in the UK and is on course to secure the buying power of over a third of these 150,000 traders by the end of 2010. The traders currently registered with Stockshifters.com already possess a combined purchasing power in excess of £20 million a week, with this figure set to more than double in the next quarter.
The UK’s secondary goods market is estimated to be worth in excess of £20 billion annually. However, until now, the buying of goods has been limited by an inefficient and unregulated market model, where a small number of traders have been paying an abnormally low price on stock, while halting the ability of other buyers to access branded goods. Stockshifters.com is revolutionising this process by giving buyers direct access to consistently available stock from a range of top retailers and manufacturers, via its online marketplace.
Brand new traders marketplace
The company argued that sellers have historically not been able to achieve anywhere near fair market value for these goods because a single destination with a significant number of active buyers didn’t exist. Stockshifters.com aims to solve this issue by providing retailers and manufacturers with the largest marketplace of traders available anywhere on or offline, and uses a flexible pricing model – from flash sales to timed auctions – to ensure optimal pricing and an increase in the value that can be generated from within the reverse supply chain.
Stockshifters.com’s approach is also to enable the linking of stock management systems of member retailers and manufactures directly to its online marketplace, automating the uploading of available stock to minimise the work involved. Buyers – from eBay ‘powersellers’ to large trading and export companies – can view quality assured and branded stock and make purchases in the knowledge that sellers are pre-vetted and that the price of stock is dictated by the marketplace.
With a number of high-profile retailers and manufacturers already on board, and a wide range of stock available across the electrical, computing, mobile phone, clothing, toy and game, home and garden, book, music and DVD sectors, Stockshifters.com said it was in a prime position to have a dramatic and positive impact on the UK’s secondary goods market.
It added that several new and high profile partnerships will be announced in the coming weeks.
Dynamic pricing proves attractive
Stockshifters.com chief executive, Harvey Sinclair chief executive, said: “eBay has estimated the size of the global secondary goods market to be $500 billion [£325.4 billion] annually. In the UK we have until now struggled to capitalise on these transactions, as the buying and selling of stock has been shrouded in mystery. We’ve built Stockshifters.com to overcome these hurdles, empowering retailers, manufacturers and traders through the creation of the largest and most transparent marketplace for secondary goods.
“Our trader community is increasing at an exponential rate, resulting in a thriving and growing online marketplace, which is underpinned by a dynamic pricing model which sets a fair market value.”
Tom Valentine, Stockshifters.com director of product and marketing, added: “The feedback we’re already getting from both sellers and buyers is that Stockshifters.com is already having a major impact on the way the market operates, dramatically improving the transaction of secondary goods, and enabling the value of these items to be quickly and easily maximised.”
