Solution
Ferguson chose Liquidity Services’ Sell-in-Place solution, a self-managed solution that lets them quickly and easily dispose of excess through the Liquidation.com B2B auction marketplace. Using Sell-in-Place, they can:
List and ship directly from their branches – This avoids freight charges to move products to a central location and keeps costs down by limiting the number of touches and people involved. Shipping is no longer a challenge –
Liquidity Services quotes the freight up front and the buyer pays it.
Maximize recovery – By targeting pre-qualified large volume buyers nationally, Ferguson is no longer reliant on a small number of local buyers who may cherry-pick or haggle.
Consistently adjust to varying needs – For example, by location, product or need (e.g., maximize velocity or maximize recovery) – providing important flexibility for a large company that has large volume needs.
Improve velocity – Because Sell-in-Place is so efficient, Ferguson saves time and frees up floor space for more profitable forward sales.
Eliminate hassles and headaches – Liquidity Services provides both daily and long-term support at no extra cost.
A 360° View of the Reverse Supply Chain
For Ferguson, one of the key benefits of Sell-in-Place is the ability to fully track and measure the total recovery value of excess inventory by location.
For large companies with different geographical owners or diverse types of products and multiple physical locations, Sell-in-Place makes it possible to track the negative profitability of the liquidation in the market nearest where the excess inventory position occurred and then allow the recovery to offset in the market. This is a huge advantage for accounting and financial management. If you’re currently centralizing returns, it lets you answer questions like these:
“If I send liquidation product to a centralized location, what would it cost me to move it?”
“Should I move it for $0 and allow the centralized location to make 100% margin on the liquidation?”
“Or should I move it at cost and suppress the location where the initial inventory decision was made?”
Unparalleled Reporting
Liquidity Services provides Ferguson with detailed weekly reports for all their locations. Their internal reporting is also streamlined because all locations use the same setup, which isn’t an option with other liquidation providers.
Julia B, a Director of Operations, says this level of reporting is critical.
“As a large company split into several distinct business groups, we were challenged to balance an ‘easy button’ to support systemwide user adoption with recovery rate,” she says. “Sell-in-Place has solved for that.”