How to Find the Best Secondary Market Sales Channel For Your Various Liquidation Goods

Secondary markets are those in which a product is used for something other than the primary reason it was created for. This market consists of buyers and customers other than those who were not originally intended to use the product. Even though these secondary markets are not detected immediately, they can prove to be quite beneficial for businesses who deal with liquidation goods.

The Benefits of Secondary Markets

Not many liquidators venture into secondary markets since they don’t know their benefits. So, before you discover how to find them, understand what you can get through them. Here are some of the most prominent benefits of having a secondary market.

Product Availability

Even though manufacturers mostly refresh their product line annually or bi-annually and liquidate their older products, some products manage to survive for more than five years. A lot of companies even carry products which are a decade old just because they are in demand and still in use.

Quicker Shipping

As someone who sells to the secondary market, you can have products delivered in 24 to 72 hours, which is a lot quicker than three to five weeks, the time a manufacturer needs to build products before shipping them.

Value Proposition

Because liquidation products are available for a cheaper price than a manufacturer product, you will have a lot of companies and buyers looking for them. Some organizations even keep these products in stock because they want to be prepared when something unusual happens.

Due to these benefits and much more, you will be making a big mistake if you don’t start benefiting from your own secondary market right away.

The Challenges that Face Liquidators in Secondary Markets

To ensure that you know both the good and the bad of secondary markets, here is a quick overview of the challenges liquidators face.

No Formal Relationship

The secondary market operates outside the manufacturer’s established target audience, which is why resellers don’t have any formal relationship with the former. Even though this doesn’t necessarily prohibit support from the original manufacturer, it will not be the sort of support and feedback that you are looking for.

Risk of Losing Product Recognition

One of the reasons why many companies or liquidators turn to secondary market is because they are afraid of losing their brand or product recognition. A huge percent of these companies prefer clearing out their unwanted inventory by selling it to liquidators as this is a lot quicker and easier as compared to finding the secondary market and making an effort to sell it to them.

So, there is always a chance that you may get a dud rather than a good product. Even though selling to a secondary market has a few drawbacks, the benefits are more than noticeable. So even if you are worried about the setbacks that you may have to face at a later time, weigh the advantages and you’ll know why you should reach out to your secondary market.

The Types of Secondary Markets

If you’re enticed by the advantages and ready to take on the challenges, you’re ready to find out about secondary markets. However, before you set out to find the best secondary market channels for your liquidation products, you must make sure that you know about the different types of secondary market. A look at these types will also give you a good idea of where you can find your own market.

Here are the four main types of secondary markets that you need to look for.

1. Direct Search

The secondary market that provides you the least amount of price information is one where the buyers and customers have to search for each other directly. As someone who sells liquidation goods, you will easily be able to find future customers without having to spend a lot.

However, when opting for this kind of secondary market, make sure that you carry out extensive research and make a deal only when you are sure that you are getting the best result possible. If not, consider one of the other types of secondary markets.

2. Brokered: 

In the brokered type of secondary market, you hire a broker to look for customers. Even though brokers take a certain fee, called the brokerage commission, their professional services are quite effective in helping you find compatible partners for your products and goods.

Because brokers are in frequent contact with a lot of market participants on a continuing basis, they are much more likely to know the fair price you should be getting for your product. Their extensive network helps you as they provide price information that would otherwise be quite difficult for you to do. However, the one setback with a brokered secondary market is that it takes time and prices may drop considerably before a broker can find you a good deal.

3. Dealers

Another type of secondary market that you should consider is one which can be approached through dealers. As the trading of stock becomes more active, some market participants begin to bid and offer quotes to buy the products you are offering. These traders then become direct dealers and sell the merchandise on their own quoted prices. One of the benefits of dealer markets is that they help eliminate the need for time consuming searches for trading partners because you can sell your goods immediately to the dealer.

4. Auction

: The auction market offers centralized procedures where buyers and sellers come together so that you have a chance to locate your market and customers. Basically, the auction market is a place for anyone who wants to buy or sell something. 

Auction markets are extremely beneficial because they eliminate the need for locating compatible partners and bargaining for a favorable price with them. Moreover, as a lot of auction markets are also online, you don’t even need to spend a lot of time and effort on a brick-and-mortar platform.

How to Find the Best Secondary Market

Now that you are aware of the different types of secondary markets, here are a couple of things that will help you find the best secondary market for your liquidation goods.

Do Extensive Research

One of the first steps that you must take to find an appropriate secondary market is research. Even though a lot of liquidation product sellers believe that they only need to conduct research for their market since the secondary market’s buyers can locate them on their own, the truth is that good research is your best bet of finding the best secondary market.

Here are some tips that you’ll find useful when conducting research for your secondary market.

1. Find Sources

The first thing you need to do is to find the sources that will help you find out more about the secondary market that you want to target. Some common forms where you can find great information are the public sources, which are usually free, and commercial sources, which come with a cost but are invaluable nevertheless. You can also decide to opt for educational institution sources because even though they are frequently overlooked, they do provide important and valuable information.

2. Analyze Your Competitor’s Secondary Market

One of the best ways to find your secondary market is to know the people that your competitors are targeting. This is especially useful if your competitors have been in the business for a long time because they too must have gone through the process of checking and picking out the right kind of secondary market. Even if you are not able to pinpoint your exact market, this analysis will help you become a bit more specific about your research.

3. Find Out About the Trends

Sure, your secondary market will not consist of your actual customers and clients; but to conduct secondary market research, you need to know about the trends, likes and dislikes of your customers. This will help you find out how and in what different ways your products and services are being used, which is turn will help you find the other people demanding and using it.

4. Don’t Waste Time or Money

It is easy to go overboard and spend more than you should on your secondary market research. You should make it a point to avoid spending a lot of time, money and effort on secondary research. Also be careful about the places where you spend these valuable resources. That aside, always have a properly structured and well thought out plan and process for the research and ensure that you follow it to the line.

However, don’t make the mistake of underestimating your secondary marketing research because even though it may take some time and effort, the payback is huge. Therefore, if you are able to conduct your research properly, you won’t only be able to avoid productivity drawbacks in the future, but also you save time and money.

Be Active on Social Media

If you want to sell your product to the secondary market, you need to be sure of reaching as many people as possible. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook help get the word out about your products. Even better, people on social media will spread the word once they know your business and the products that you deal with.

Regardless of your target market, your customers and consumers are on social media. So it makes sense that you meet them where they like to spend their time. Enlightening people about your products and engaging them via social media is one of the most effective ways of locating secondary market sales channels for your business. Here are some tips that you can use for this purpose.

Here are some tips that you can use for this purpose.

Update Profiles

First, to attract the primary or secondary market, you must make sure that you keep updating your profile. Whether you have a page on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, you must make sure that you have filled out the entire information page. This will not only help your customers know about you and your company, but it will make you look a lot more reliable and professional. 

Also, upload a display picture that represents your company. It preferably should be the logo or design of your organization.

Provide Quality Information

The content that you are posting on these social media platforms needs to provide quality information that the readers can implement in their real lives. Make sure that all the posts are connected to one way or the other as this will help your business look a lot more professional.

However, before you upload any kind of content on your social media page, check the pages of your competitors and discover the content that they are sharing. This will give you an idea of the latest trends that are being followed and will also help you develop your own content.

Make It Easier to Share

If you have a website or blog, you must make sure that you are making it easier for people to share your content or posts. Have a social media bar right beside your blog so that readers can like and share things according to their convenience. Social media bars that scroll with the user are even more effective because they remind people that they do need to share and like.

Define Your Secondary Market

Just like you are aware of the target market that you are directly going to sell your product to, you also need to be aware of the other people using your product. For example, if you are selling computers, you must also know about the tech sellers and active consumers who buy your merchandise so that they can sell it to third parties that provide used and refurbished tech equipment at reduced prices.

Identifying your secondary market will also help you connect with potential customers. Knowing the types of secondary markets and the different things that you can do to find the best one will help swiftly move your liquidation products on to the best buyers. 

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