Sell Excess Inventory Before Year-End: A Guide for Businesses Clearing Warehouse Stock

As businesses move toward the final months of the year, inventory decisions become increasingly important.

Warehouses need space for incoming products. Purchasing teams are planning future buys. Finance departments are reviewing working capital. Brands and distributors are identifying SKUs that did not perform as expected.

That often leaves one important question:

What should we do with the excess inventory already sitting in the warehouse?

Big Willy’s Wholesale purchases qualifying excess inventory, surplus merchandise, overstock, discontinued products, closeouts, slow-moving goods, canceled-order inventory, Amazon/e-commerce inventory, and other bulk general merchandise nationwide.

For businesses carrying inventory they do not want to bring into another planning cycle, now can be a good time to evaluate a bulk sale.

Why Businesses Review Excess Inventory Before Year-End

Inventory that made sense at the beginning of the year may look very different several months later.

Sales forecasts change. Customers cancel orders. New models launch. Retail programs end. Packaging changes. Certain SKUs simply move slower than anticipated.

An inventory review may reveal:

• Products with months of excess supply
• Discontinued SKUs still occupying pallet positions
• Seasonal inventory unlikely to sell through
• Canceled retail-order merchandise
• Previous packaging or older models
• Amazon or e-commerce inventory no longer being actively sold
• Excess imports from larger-than-needed production runs
• Products being removed from the company’s assortment
• Slow-moving inventory consuming valuable warehouse space

Identifying these products early gives your company more options for dealing with them.

Start With Months of Supply

One useful way to identify overstock is to compare the quantity on hand with realistic future demand.

For example:

Inventory on hand: 48,000 units
Average monthly sales: 4,000 units
Inventory position: 12 months of supply

If your company only wants to maintain four months of inventory, approximately 32,000 units may represent an excess position.

Rather than trying to sell all 48,000 units, you could retain the quantity needed to support normal customers and evaluate selling the excess separately.

Warehouse Space Has Value

Every pallet position used for slow-moving inventory is a pallet position that cannot be used for something else.

This becomes particularly important when businesses are preparing for new inventory arrivals.

Suppose 80 pallets of an older product are occupying warehouse space while a new product line is scheduled to arrive.

Continuing to store the older merchandise may mean paying for overflow storage, sending products to a 3PL, or delaying incoming inventory.

Selling the excess position can potentially free space for merchandise that better supports the company’s current strategy.

Don’t Wait for Overstock to Become Dead Stock

There can be a significant difference between excess inventory and dead inventory.

Excess inventory may still be current, desirable, retail-ready merchandise.

But the longer products remain unsold, the greater the possibility that conditions change.

A newer model may launch.

Packaging may be redesigned.

Retail listings may disappear.

Demand may decline.

Seasonality may pass.

Market pricing may become more competitive.

Evaluating excess inventory while it is still current can provide more options than waiting until the merchandise has been sitting for years.

Canceled Orders Should Be Reviewed Separately

Canceled or reduced purchase orders can create some of the largest unexpected inventory positions.

A retailer may originally commit to 50,000 units but ultimately take only 30,000.

That leaves 20,000 units of unplanned inventory.

Instead of allowing the remaining merchandise to blend into normal warehouse inventory, identify it as a separate excess position and determine whether your existing customers can realistically absorb it.

If not, a bulk sale may provide another exit strategy.

Amazon and E-Commerce Sellers Should Review Stranded SKUs

E-commerce businesses can also accumulate substantial excess inventory.

A seller may have thousands of units remaining after:

• An Amazon listing is delisted
• Advertising costs become uneconomical
• Ranking declines
• Marketplace restrictions change
• A product is discontinued
• FBA inventory is removed
• The seller exits a category
• A replacement product launches
• Demand falls below projections

The inventory itself may remain new and completely sellable.

Big Willy’s Wholesale evaluates qualifying Amazon and e-commerce inventory opportunities for bulk purchase.

Manufacturers and Importers: Review Production Overruns

Manufacturers and importers frequently end up with excess quantities because producing larger runs lowers unit costs.

For example, customer demand may justify 25,000 units while the most economical manufacturing run is 40,000 units.

The lower production cost may make sense initially, but the company still needs an exit strategy for the additional 15,000 units.

Production overruns, excess imports, customer cancellations, packaging changes, and discontinued programs can all create inventory opportunities that wholesale buyers may evaluate.

What Inventory Is Big Willy’s Wholesale Looking For?

We evaluate bulk consumer general merchandise across categories including:

• Household products
• Kitchen & cookware
• Beauty & personal care
• Pet supplies
• Baby merchandise
• Toys & games
• Apparel
• Footwear
• Electronics
• Travel products
• Outdoor merchandise
• Cleaning products
• Storage & organization
• Office & school supplies
• Seasonal merchandise
• Disposable food-service products
• Other consumer general merchandise

We are especially interested in large single-SKU positions, pallet quantities, truckloads, multiple truckloads, container quantities, and complete inventory closeouts.

Who Can Sell Inventory to Big Willy’s Wholesale?

We evaluate opportunities from:

• Manufacturers
• Brands
• Importers
• Distributors
• Wholesalers
• Retailers
• E-commerce sellers
• Amazon sellers
• 3PL clients
• Other businesses holding excess consumer merchandise

Inventory can be located at your own warehouse, distribution center, fulfillment center, or third-party logistics facility.

What Information Should You Submit?

To help our buying team evaluate your inventory, provide as much information as possible, including:

• Brand
• Product description
• SKU
• UPC
• Quantity available
• Case pack
• Total cases
• Pallet count
• Product condition
• Product photos
• Packaging photos
• Warehouse city and state
• MSRP
• Normal wholesale price
• Asking price, if available
• Expiration or best-by dates when applicable
• Resale or channel restrictions

For large multi-SKU opportunities, sending the complete inventory spreadsheet is usually the fastest way for us to review the merchandise.

Turn Excess Inventory Into an Opportunity

An inventory review should not only identify what your company needs to purchase next.

It should also identify what your company no longer needs to own.

Inventory that is no longer supporting your current sales strategy ties up warehouse space and working capital that could potentially be used elsewhere.

If your company is carrying substantial excess merchandise, Big Willy’s Wholesale wants to see the opportunity.

We are actively buying qualifying overstock, surplus, discontinued products, closeouts, slow-moving merchandise, canceled orders, Amazon/e-commerce inventory, excess imports, and other bulk general merchandise nationwide.

Inventory Submission: Submit Inventory to Big Willy’s Wholesale⁠
Email: william@bigwillyswholesale.com
Phone: (213) 341-1011