This weekend liquidation site Overstock.com will launch OverstockB2B.com, a new site to designed to help mom and pop size businesses compete with chain stores.
The site, said Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock, will offer small business owners the chance to buy small volumes of brand name products at deeper wholesale discounts than they’d normally have access to from liquidators.
To purchase from the site, buyers will be required to register as a licensed business owner and purchase by the casepack. The company has created a customer service department to cater specifically to the needs of small businesses; 11 ex-retailers are on staff and available to handle calls and questions.
There are about 130,000 small retailers across the United States, said Byrne, noting the new B-to-B site will be promoted via direct mail and in trade publication ads. He doesn’t see any danger in Wal-Mart-type companies coming in and scooping up the site’s deals; the quantities OverstockB2B.com typically purchases are too small to satisfy the needs of retailers looking to stock hundreds of stores.
Overstock.com has about 100 partners, mostly catalogers and e-tailers, that wish to remain anonymous who sell goods on the site, said Byrne. Overstock handles everything but the fulfillment on those transactions, for which it collects an 18% to 25% commission. The company’s core business is buying goods outright and selling them on the site, although goods are also taken on consignment into the Salt Lake City warehouse as well.
Network
