Development of an Online Liquidation Platform for Overstocked Goods in Wholesale Trading

Wholesale companies often struggle with end-of-series and discontinued products cluttering warehouses, which incurs high storage and disposal costs despite remaining operational and valuable. These goods require an effective channel for sale to avoid additional expenses and maximize revenue from excess inventory.

A mid-sized wholesale distributor with multiple outlets, specializing in durable goods such as bathroom equipment, heating, and sanitary technology, seeking to optimize inventory management and sales channels.

• Establish a dedicated online sales channel to facilitate the effective sale of surplus, end-of-series, or discontinued products.
• Reduce warehousing and disposal costs associated with unsold inventory.
• Enable business customers to easily browse, list, and purchase unneeded products through an intuitive platform.
• Increase revenue from liquidation sales, targeting at least 2% of total inventory annually.

• User registration and authentication for business clients.
• Product listing management for inventory with detailed descriptions, images, and pricing options.
• Automated bidding and auction management features or fixed-price sales options.
• Notification system for auction updates, winning bids, and purchase confirmations.
• Search and filtering capabilities based on product categories, conditions, and other attributes.
• Reporting and analytics dashboard to monitor sales activity, revenue, and inventory turnover.
• Secure payment processing and order fulfillment integration.

• Payment gateways for secure transaction processing.
• ERP or inventory management systems for real-time product data synchronization.
• Notification services (email/SMS) for updates and alerts.
• Analytics tools for monitoring platform performance and usage.

• System must support over 1,000 completed auctions or listings reliably.
• Ensure high availability with 99.9% uptime.
• Data security compliance for financial transactions and user data.
• Platform should handle increasing inventory volume and user base without degradation of performance.

The development of this specialized liquidation platform is projected to significantly reduce inventory storage and disposal costs, similar to the case study where costs decreased by a measurable margin. It is expected to generate at least 2% of annual additional revenue from surplus goods sale, improve customer satisfaction by providing an accessible alternative purchasing channel, and streamline inventory management processes for wholesale distributors.