Wholesale News & Articles

For the last 10 years, the Internet has been building steam towards becoming the dominant medium of the future for business to business trade. And CloseoutCentral.com has been leading the way, step by step, as this revolution has taken place.

CloseoutCentral is the most thoroughly structured online marketplace of its kind for retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers who need to trade goods in an efficient and profit minded manner. Search tools like the Product Locator Service, Seller Directory and Quicklink save the CloseoutCentral community time and money.

But what really keeps people coming back are the products and prices. The website features 50 different product sections for closeout lots from around the country. An average of 7,000 lots appear at www.closeoutcentral.com on a daily basis, with new ones being added constantly.

Buyers from around the world can quickly and easily find the best deals on closeout products in all categories, from apparel to electronics to toys, and everything in between. You can find great companies like Twin Cities Wholesale, Better Closeouts, Sav-on Closeouts, New Frontier Marketing, Merchandise USA and H&J Liquidators, among many others.

"CloseoutCentral.com is simply the very type of marketplace where buyers can find what they are looking for at the right prices," said Jack Aaronson, CEO of multichannel marketing agency, Aaronson Consulting Group, New York. "They can find the right prices because they have so many options. CloseoutCentral.com is what the Internet is really all about. Customers want to come back, and do come back, because of the quality of the product experience and what it can do for their businesses."

As Aaronson alluded, CloseoutCentral is a success because it is all about products. Now that the holidays have wound down, the website will be brimming with warehouse lots of items being offered by top wholesalers and manufacturers. Profit seeking buyers will surely swoop down on these products. Here is a review of some of the best firms who will be offering some of the most interesting closeout items this year:

Melamine & Mellennio Housewares
"We like to use CloseoutCentral.com because it allows our website to remain focused on the things we wholesale," said Dan Salvati, president of Europaeus USA Inc. "It is a good way of keeping the two business divisions separate and liquidating product at the same time. You want to take measures when you can that will avoid confusion and stop the possibility of the closeouts interfering with your regular sales. CloseoutCentral helps us do that. And our products will be exposed to the right audience of clients."

Europaeus was founded in 1992 and went online around the same time that CloseoutCentral was born. While the Peekskill, NY, company is fairly new to the closeouts website, it definitely likes what it sees so far.

"We plan on doing a lot more with our liquidation products at CloseoutCentral during 2007," Salvati said. "You are going to see our webpage there greatly improved. We plan on adding more pictures to the pages. We are excited to do even more."

Salvati's firm (CloseoutCentral Quicklink: europaeus) offers some of the classiest, highest quality European kitchenware and serveware on the market. Europaeus supplies a large customer base consisting of hotels, restaurants, country clubs, caterers, party rental companies, gourmet food stores and kitchenware stores that extend from Bermuda to Guam and from Canada to Central America. The increasing growth and sophistication of culinary trends in the USA has brought about a new awareness of food presentation and quality serveware that is the focus of Europaeus' sales and marketing efforts.

Salvati said he is particularly excited about his company's recent addition of melamine products, which can be found at www.europaeus.com. Without question, marketers need to keep an eye out for the Europaeus line in the Housewares Section at CloseoutCentral. Meanwhile, Salvati is predicting a huge year for his company in specific and the wholesale/retail sector in general. He has been seeing increases in sales to the point where the firm this month is relaunching a site with five times the number of items and product pages.

"The online exposure to more people has been great for business," Salvati said. "I think the economy has been strong over the last year and will continue to acquire strength. We expect bigger and better sales in 2007. We are selling our melamine plates in South Africa and plan on expanding more and more internationally. We think we will do well in Europe, and it is an exciting new way for us to go."

Women's Fashion In Style at CloseoutCentral
Some wholesale companies were launched just two decades ago, and have been dramatically changed because of the Internet. Nowadays, they can hardly recognize those original business plans that were put together during Reagan's last term.

For instance, take WholesaleImport.com, which offers an array of women's fashion accessories products. The firm went into business during 1989 with the idea that it would make the lion's share of its profit through foot traffic on the show floor. But the company was one of the first wholesalers in the fashion sector to have a website in the mid 1990s.

Being an early adaptor has certainly paid dividends. WholesaleImport.com has become a leading wholesaler of wigs, beauty supplies, custom jewelry, socks, underwear and shoes, among other items. However, the Memphis, TN, company has also used CloseoutCentral.com to liquidate extra stock for items like scented candles, hair beads, ladies' shavers, neck purses, visors and bandanas (Quicklink: wholesaleimports).

"We have changed the way we go after new business," said Scott McMillin, who runs WholesaleImport.com with his wife, Michelle McMillin. "The local traffic coming through our front door is not so important to us like it used to be. We are putting our advertising dollars on the Internet more and more because it has worked well. And we have gotten results from CloseoutCentral.com. We plan on putting more but smaller lots up there during the coming months."

For their wholesale business, the McMillins display pictures of the top 45 selling products daily on the homepage at www.wholesaleimport.com. Buyers who click on an image are taken to a product page, where they can read descriptions and add it to their shopping cart.

Do not take WholesaleImport.com lightly because they are a family business. If you browse around the site, it is immediately evident that the McMillins are innovators in the wholesale industry. Their customers can use a Tell A Friend feature, which allows them to email the product page to someone else who may be interested in the item. The website also allows customers to write product reviews.

While WholesaleImport.com has stayed on the forefront of web marketing, Mr. McMillin emphasizes that you have to have the right products to go along with your customer service applications in order to win at the wholesale and closeouts games. "For instance, having several major product lines allows us to shift our emphasis as the market changes," he said. "We are able to fluctuate as things rise and fall. It allows us to keep moving product out the door. I think we will continue our sales growth as we look to 2007. But once again, it is shifting from floor customers to remote customers. That is the trend we are continually seeing."

MarkDownAlley.com Spotlights Deals on Toys
There are countless firms that specialize in liquidation at CloseoutCentral.com. So it's important to take note of surplus marketers like Otherworld Enterprises and its website, MarkDownAlley.com.

While the firm's lots can typically be found in the Health & Beauty and Fashion Accessories sections at www.closeoutcentral.com, MarkDownAlley.com is constantly increasing its inventory, so buyers are apt to find its closeouts throughout the site. Mother's Day, 3D, baby shower, Harry Potter, home and décor, leather and kids' stuff are just a few of the categories that can be discovered at www.markdownalley.com.

"We are always adding new stuff to the website," said Viki Montgomery, office manager at the two year old, MarkDownAlley.com. "The more you supply, the more options there are for everyone who is looking for product. We take our product line seriously and are always looking for the best items on the market."

MarkDownAlley.com (CloseoutCentral Quicklink: markdownalley) this year grew sales by double digits, and expects to see more good times ahead. Out of the two dozen categories available at its website, toys and kid's items have been growing segments for the Simi Valley, CA, company. Portable Cheerios dispensers, backpacks, tattoo accessories and Cracker Jack brand memorabilia have been some of the firm's big sellers.

"We have had a big sales lift in the last year and are forecasting something even better for 2007 as well," Montgomery said. "Most all products for kids have really been picking up. I think it is worth mentioning that we have been the beneficiary of word of mouth marketing in a lot of ways. In addition, we have used CloseoutCentral.com for the last two years, and it has been a great tool in liquidating product. It is such an easy and effective way to advertise closeouts."

Indeed, the beauty of an online business to business marketplace is the ease of use for all involved. Montgomery added that it is also a great way for buyers to find the products they need.

"A lot of people do not like to leave their place of business to pick up orders," Montgomery said. "People more and more want to do trade online, so I think it makes sense that places like CloseoutCentral.com and WholesaleCentral.com are going to become increasingly more active."

Companies interviewed for this story:

Europaeus USA, Inc.
8 John Walsh Blvd. Ste. 140
Peekskill, NY 10566
Tel.: 914-739-1900
Fax: 914-739-5229
Website: www.europaeus.com
CloseoutCentral.com Quicklink: europaeus

WholesaleImport.com
Michelle & Scott's Wholesale Imports
4957 Summer Ave
Memphis, TN 38122
Tel.: 901-767-0838
Website: www.wholesaleimport.com
CloseoutCentral.com Quicklink: wholesaleimports

MarkDownAlley.com
Otherworld Enterprises, Inc.
1445 East Los Angeles Ave Ste 201
Simi Valley, CA 93065
Tel.: 805-579-0545
Website: www.markdownalley.com
CloseoutCentral.com Quicklink: markedownalley

The Aaronson Group
666 Greenwich Street, PH-2
New York, NY 10014
Tel: 800-691-3133 or 212-691-4725
Fax: 917-591-5818
Website: www.aaronsongroup.com

CloseoutCentral.com
Sumner Communications
24 Stony Hill Rd.
Bethel, CT. 06801
Tel: 800-999-8281 or 203-748-2050
Website: www.CloseoutCentral.com

Article ID: 25