Web Sales

Challenge

In 2005 Century Logistics recognised a need for one of their Nursery Manufacturer customers to find a better solution for customer returns and end of line stock.

• Most customer returned goods ended up in a skip or sold for very low values to traders (Jobbers)
• End of line stock would sit in a warehouse for weeks on end, gathering dust and costing money

Century Logistics knew there must be a better way and back in 2005 a certain internet auction site called eBay was starting to offer a new sales route for sellers…

Solution

It all started with a small trial. The Century Logistics customer service team put one item (a used baby stroller) onto eBay and watched as it sold for more than the new retail price. And so the e-commerce solution was born. Within three months it became a full time role for a member of the team. From then on the team has grown as they’ve helped other customers to generate revenue from returned or end of line products. Century Logistic now own and operates four eBay shops; Baby Value, Nursery Savings, Century Direct and Just Dance.

As their name suggests, the first two shops offer end of line and returned goods for our Baby, Nursery and Toy customers. Century Direct is a general shop offering a diverse product range for many different customers and Just Dance is an outlet site for a large dance wear manufacturer.

To maximise sales values our e-commerce team grades returned stock, catalogues and lists sale items. Where required they carry out refurbishment to products to make them saleable or increase their grade. Where goods are beyond economic sale they break items down and sort into recyclable or disposal bins. They also de-brand goods or boxes to protect normal retail sales as required.

Result

Over the last two years the Century Logistics ecommerce team has sold over 50k items, generating an additional £3m of revenue for customers, essentially turning end of line stock into cash…