During the pandemic, it was easy for retailers to get swept up into the eCommerce craze and order relentlessly to keep pace with heightened demand. However, the hangover of this pandemic spending has resulted in an immense amount of excess inventory. It threatens to significantly bite into retailers’ profit margins as consumer focus has largely shifted away from auxiliary goods. Moreover, in 2021 consumers returned nearly 16.6 percent of the products they purchased, accounting for a 6 percent increase from 2020. In total, the returns made up $761 billion of lost sales.
This dynamic indicates that the market is currently over-saturated with unwanted consumer goods. As a result, retailers are turning to liquidators to help move inventory -often for pennies on the dollar- and clear shelves for new in-season products. J.D. Daunt, chief commercial officer at Liquidity Services said in an interview with The New York Times: “It is surprising to me on some level that we saw all that surge of buying activity and we weren’t collectively able to see that it was going to end at some point.”
In other news, BioLite, a manufacturer of off-grid charging solutions, has just introduced its new BaseCharge 600 and BaseCharge 1500 portable chargers, as well as the SolarPanel 100. The smaller BaseCharge 600 model has a battery capacity of 622 Wh, while the BaseCharge 1500 features a capacity of 1521 Wh. Both units can be charged via the SolarPanel 100 which produces 100 watts of energy in peak sunlight. Pre-orders for the products will begin on September 7.
Lastly, we were on the ground in New York City this weekend for the annual 2022 Value Electronics TV Shootout. Be sure to check out all of our coverage from the event here.
WHAT WE’RE READING…
An E-Bike Sharing Company Co-Founded by Usain Bolt Appears to Have Shut Down
BMW Recalls 83 iX and i4 EVs Over Battery Fire Concerns
Private Sector Wages Rose Nearly Six Percent Last Quarter
