The Silent Crisis: A Generational Gap in the Closeout, Overstock, and Liquidation Industry

The world of closeouts, overstock, excess inventory, abandoned merchandise, unwanted products and discontinued items is a complex one, often overlooked and misunderstood. It's a sector that directly impacts the global economy, yet it's facing a unique challenge: a significant generational gap. In other words, there are no young people coming into the closeout business and they don’t seem to be interested in abandoned inventory, inventory management, closeouts, excess stock or buying and selling liquidation inventory.

Understanding the Terms

Before delving into the industry's generational issue, let's clarify the key terms:

Closeouts: Products that are being discontinued or significantly reduced in production. This may be due to having imported too much inventory, slowing sales, overproduction, or just having too much inventory on hand. In any case there is a need to reduce inventory and offload excess inventory.

Overstock Inventory: Excess stock that a retailer or manufacturer has on hand. There often is nothing wrong with this inventory, other than having too much of it on hand and needing to offload products in bulk.

Excess Inventory: Similar to overstock, but often refers to specific items or categories. Perhaps you imported too much housewares inventory and have excess stock of fry pans, pots, cookware or other kitchen utensils you are keen to offload and remove from the warehouse.

Abandoned Merchandise: Products left behind, often due to business closures or relocation. This happens when a business shuts down operations, downsizes and moves to a smaller warehouse, or simply vacates a warehouse and leaves inventory behind without paying rent.  When this happens, the warehouse owner is left holding the bag and is forced to liquidate inventory in bulk to recover storage costs.

Discontinued Products: Items that are no longer being produced or sold by a company.  These are closeout products that were once very useful, but the company no longer needs or wants. In most of these cases, the recovery amount a business gets for these closeouts is less important than just selling them off in bulk and getting them out to create space in the warehouse for new products arriving.

1. How to Handle Discontinued Products Without losing too much money can be a challenge. If you are looking for inventory liquidators who can help you get rid of inventory fast, consider doing a Google search using these search terms: unload excess inventory, keen to clear stock from 3PL fulfillment warehouse, offloading overstock products, looking to reduce inventory, liquidation process, closeouts, closeout process.

• The Economic Impact

The closeout, overstock, and liquidation industry plays a crucial role in the global economy. It helps to:

• Stimulate the Economy: By offering discounted products, it encourages consumer spending. Shoppers will always love great deals, and great deals often come at the expense of businesses shutting down operations, moving to smaller warehouses and getting rid of excess stock, unloading dead inventory that hasn’t been selling, selling bulk closeout inventory and taking a big loss to create space in the warehouse, or simply getting rid of slow-moving products that are no longer needed.
• Reduce Waste: By finding new homes for excess inventory, it minimizes environmental impact. It is always a better option to offload inventory and get rid of closeouts below cost, versus throwing them away and filling dumpsters. You can even donate dead inventory and closeouts to Goodwill or Salvation Army just to offload inventory and make room for new products. Dead stock sitting in your warehouse is the worst possible use of storage space, and can be so destructive to profits that it can actually turn a good year into a bad one. If you have been sitting on closeouts that aren’t selling or have discontinued products you no longer want or need, get rid of them at any cost and bring in more profitable items.
• Provide Opportunities: It creates jobs in various sectors, from logistics to retail. Closeout opportunities and overstock buyers are in demand today because so much of our retail landscape is discount. There are few traditional retailers left anymore, and most stores are selling closeouts, odd lots, discontinued products, abandoned inventory and deeply discounted excess inventory from importers and wholesalers.
• The Generational Gap

Despite its economic significance, the industry is facing a significant generational gap. There's a notable absence of young people entering this field. Several factors contribute to this:

1. Lack of Awareness: Many young people are simply unaware of the industry and the career opportunities it offers. Try telling a young kid today that they can have a steady income, but they will have to work 14 to 16 hour days, spend countless hours negotiating deals on closeouts and overstock products, work with importers helping them offload abandoned freight stuck in their warehouse, and attend trade shows where they have to work for 4-5 days in a row with appointments and being on their feet all day.
2. Perceived Lack of Glamour: Compared to tech or finance, the industry may seem less glamorous or exciting. Closeouts and overstock inventory and inventory liquidations don’t make for a sexy business. It pays the bills and even allows you to put some money away for a rainy day, but buying and selling discontinued products and closeouts probably doesn’t sound exciting to a 20-something.
3. Outdated Image: The industry is often associated with traditional, brick-and-mortar businesses, which may not appeal to younger generations. Today, there are so many closeouts being sold online it is hard to believe. Buyers looking for overstock inventory, closeouts and abandoned goods turn to online platforms to find extraordinary deals.
4. Complexities and Challenges: The industry involves intricate processes, from inventory management to logistics and sales, which can be daunting for newcomers. Most of the older mentors in the closeout business have either retired or died, and there aren’t many 2^nd or 3^rd generations of closeout buyers and inventory liquidators left. Companies that specialize in buying abandoned inventory are falling off.
5. Educational Gap: There's a lack of specific education and training programs focused on this industry. Traditionally, the closeout business has been made of of overstock buyers and people who grew up in the closeout business, learning from family members, siblings, parents, etc. We like to say we went to the school of hard knocks, that learning how to buy and sell closeouts, how to find inventory liquidations that were good deals, and how to sniff out a deal were learned skills. There is no school.

• The Consequences of the Generational Gap

The absence of young talent in this industry has several potential consequences:

• Stagnation: Without fresh perspectives and innovative ideas, the industry may stagnate. As an example, older people (let’s call them boomers!) are sort of set in their ways. We have one way of seeing things. We think we know best, we think we know good closeouts from bad closeouts, we think we know what we can sell, how much of it, and to whom. But young, fresh eyes may have a completely new way to buy and sell closeouts and see the closeout business.
• Skill Shortage: As older generations retire, there may be a shortage of skilled workers. More people are leaving the workforce than ever. The good news is, this creates opportunities for new closeout buyers, inventory liquidators and other buyers of excess and abandoned inventory to take their place.
• Missed Opportunities: Young people are more likely to embrace digital technologies and e-commerce, which are crucial for the industry's future. Offloading closeouts online is likely the future of the industry. There will always be overstock situations and inventory liquidations, and as retail moves to more and more online sales, these closeout opportunities will be sold on the internet.
• Reduced Innovation: A lack of young talent can hinder innovation and the development of new strategies. Every industry needs new blood to re-invent itself as the older generation moves on. Closeouts and the world of abandoned inventory and excess stock is no different. We need new blood to come into the industry and take advantage of overstock products and closeouts in new ways.
• Bridging the Gap

To attract and retain young talent, the industry needs to:

1. Increase Visibility: Raise awareness about the closeout industry and its career opportunities through social media, educational institutions, and industry events. Today, social media is a useful tool for promoting closeout sales and inventory liquidations. It is sort of the newspaper of our time.
2. Modernize the Image: Emphasize the dynamic and innovative aspects of the overstock inventory and closeout industry, highlighting its role in sustainability and circular economy. Recycling old inventory into new closeout opportunities is the way of the future, and a sustainable way to move out old products and turn dead stock into cash, without filling dumpsters with dead products no longer selling.
3. Offer Training and Development: Provide comprehensive training programs to equip young people with the necessary skills.
4. Create Exciting Career Paths: Offer opportunities for growth and advancement, including leadership roles and entrepreneurial ventures.
5. Embrace Technology: Encourage the adoption of technology to streamline operations and attract tech-savvy talent.

• A Call to Action

The closeout, overstock, and liquidation industry is a vital part of the global economy. By addressing the generational gap, we can ensure its continued success and relevance. It's time for industry leaders, educators, and young people to come together to bridge this gap and shape the future of this dynamic sector. As long as importers bring in container loads of products, there will always be sellers keen to clear stock from warehouses and dispose of excess inventory no longer selling.

Merchandise USA buys overstock products, abandoned inventory and closeout housewares, toys and overstock sporting goods. We are one of the most experienced and professional inventory liquidators in the industry. We buy overstock inventory and abandoned inventory of all consumer categories. If you are keen to clear stock from your warehouse, if you are shutting down operations or if you are downsizing and moving to a smaller warehouse, we can help you offload your excess inventory, closeouts and overstock merchandise. We buy liquidation stock and have been in the closeout business almost 40 years. If you need to move excess inventory out of your warehouse, call us about selling in bulk.