Is your business straining under the cost of holding onto excess stock, but you can't afford Web-enablement to expose it to bigger markets? Don't fret - a new third-party Web site, developed with dynamic pricing technology, is alleviating this problem.
Intersurplus.com, an online business-to-business marketplace, brings together buyers and sellers of surplus goods - including anything from raw products and finished goods to machinery or office equipment. It uses dynamic commerce technology from e-business solution provider SalesBid to help sellers and buyers alike to fetch the best possible price for surplus stock.
Any business owner who has ever been kept awake at night by the need to get rid of slow-moving stock or surplus assets obviously knows how costly it is to hold onto these items. Sean McIlroy, Intersurplus executive manager, illustrates the cost of holding surplus stock, using the example of inventory valued at R100 000, occupying 6m^2 of floorspace:
"With floorspace at R12.50 per m^2 per month (R900), plus financing costs at 13% (R13 000), insurance at R0.50 per R1 000 per month (R600) and tracking costs (R100) as well as depreciation at 10% (R10 000), the grand total is R24 600 per year in opportunity costs," he says.
The beauty of Intersurplus is that it exposes stock items to the world-wide market of the web. Says David Bloch, SalesBid CEO: "A key advantage of the solution we developed for Intersurplus is our sophisticated syndication technology, which allows products to be shown not only on their own Web site, but also to be exposed on a variety of high traffic portal/specialist sites.
"Through our syndication deal with iafrica.com, South Africa's leading portal site with almost 20 million page impressions per month, sellers' wares are also available on their auction site, which is also developed and maintained by us".
But what does it cost?
Buyers pay no fees to take part in this online exchange. Sellers pay no listing fee and only a commission once the stock is sold. According to McIlroy, this makes Intersurplus the most cost-effective and convenient way to turn surplus assets into cash.
When sellers decide to list, they are assigned a "virtual agent" whose role it is to make listing products easier, to be the contact person and to provide sellers with any information they may need.
The Intersurplus system is a marketplace catering for the need of both buyers and sellers. Currently the system uses a standard auction model for sellers to dispose of their wares. This involves an auction running for a pre-determined period of time, there being a minimum opening bid and the auction being won by the highest bidder - subject to an optional reserve price set by the seller. The system also allows buyers to submit details of products or assets that they are seeking, and therefore provides a matching service with appropriate sellers.
Other features such as sealed tender sales and multiple-item auctions are also in the pipeline. A sealed tender specifies a minimum opening offer and a closing time for bid tenders. Neither buyer nor seller is told the tender values until bidding stops, and then only the seller. If two equal bids are received, the first qualifying bidder wins.
Multiple item auctions involve many identical items, able to be sold in batches to various bidders. The seller lists the items, the minimum batch number and closing time of the sale. The buyers bid a price per item, request a quantity and whether they will accept a lesser quantity in the case of unavailability. The highest bid gets the buy, subject to availability. If any items remain after granting the first sale, the next highest bid is accepted until the whole order is satisfied.
But can one ever be assured of the quality of goods on auction? To address this issue, Intersurplus has formed an alliance with Thirt.com, an online escrow agency and delivery company that provides a risk-free transacting environment. Thirt holds the payment in trust until purchasers have received the purchased item/s and have verified that they are satisfied with the goods received.
Visit www.intersurplus.com.
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SalesBid is a provider of rapidly deployed, customised and affordable dynamic commerce e-business applications. It focuses on providing clients with innovative selling, procurement and enterprise solutions aimed at optimising revenue and improving efficiencies.
SalesBid's cutting edge technology allows a dynamic pricing component to be quickly and easily added to companies' Web sites facilitating online sourcing or selling with the aim of optimising revenue. SaleBid's online solutions are unique in that they allow companies to run dynamic pricing solutions from their own sites, thereby maintaining their business's corporate image and brand and increasing traffic to their site. Furthermore, SalesBid's superior syndication technology facilitates the items for sale to be simultaneously published on major portal and specialist sites, which exposes the participating companies^1 goods and services to a large and targeted online audience resulting in increased sales.
SalesBid is an independent subsidiary of Auction Alliance Holdings with stakes also held by management and African Harvest Capital.
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