Spoiler Alert Survey Finds Only 18% of CPG Manufacturers Have Best-in-Class Discounting Program
Spoiler Alert analyzes 100 senior CPG leaders managing liquidations and donations in their latest report
Spoiler Alert, the CPG industry’s leading digital platform for managing excess and short-dated inventory, released its latest report, Technological maturity in the secondary CPG market. Published in collaboration with WBR Insights, the report surveyed 100 senior CPG leaders managing liquidations and donations at their companies to find key insights for improving excess inventory sales.
The report is available today on Spoiler Alert’s website.
Technological maturity in the secondary CPG market explores how different CPG manufacturers are currently handling their discounting processes and seeks to identify the most common struggles organizations face when trying to increase their buyer network, reach new markets, secure better deals for their excess inventory, and increase inventory turnover.
As manufacturers are constantly launching new products and dealing with supply chain disruptions, technological innovation can help reduce financial losses incurred through inefficient and outdated excess inventory management systems. However, the report revealed an overall lack of maturity and use of technology in discounting programs, especially among smaller companies.
One of the key insights found through Spoiler Alert’s report is that only 18% of companies rate their liquidation program as “very mature or best-in-class.”
“We’ve seen the full spectrum of maturity when it comes to inventory liquidation. In our experience, ‘best in class’ embraces technology to digitize manual workflows, introduces greater intelligence into pricing and allocation, and deepens their relationships with a more robust and engaged buyer base,” said Spoiler Alert CEO and Co-Founder Ricky Ashenfelter.
With only 18% of respondents rating their program as very mature, the percentage represents a disparity between how companies are handling liquidations today and how they could be performing better with digital tools.
Additionally, many companies struggle with finding enough outlets for their secondary sales. In fact, only 9% of CPG companies sell excess inventory to 10+ buyers.
The report looks at other key findings, such as which aspects of companies’ liquidation programs are the most time-consuming, how companies are communicating with their buyers, what KPIs are being tracked, and the cadence on which they execute secondary sales.
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The survey also asked respondents to describe what features they’d consider most important in a new liquidation technology platform, revealing that scalability, speed to market, visibility, and reporting capabilities are needed to help improve their program. This also revealed a consensus that the existing, traditional methods of discounting must change.
With most CPG companies recovering only 50% or less of their costs in their liquidation program, the report offers both technological solutions – like adopting a discounting management program and leveraging automation – and strategic solutions, like incorporating liquidation programs into ESG strategies.
“This new report empowers CPG brands with first-of-its-kind industry-wide numbers about excess inventory and waste. Our core focus at Spoiler Alert is to help the CPG industry go waste-free. Understanding industry benchmarking is a valuable tool for data-driven organizations to improve,” said Co-Founder and President, Emily Malina.
