GENCO, a privately held company founded in 1898, offers a comprehensive suite of forward and reverse third-party logistics services throughout North America. “We work with six of the top 10 retailers and two of the top three dot com retailers, and our annual sales are $1.5 billion,” says Don Rendulic, director of Marketing and Communications. “We have 140 operations throughout North America, of which 43 are focused on managing returns.”
GENCO’s sweet spot with retailers, he adds, is reverse logistics, also known as centralized returns management. “We are the undisputed leader in this area. Our executive chairman is the driving force behind the reverse logistics concept, and we have software that nobody in the industry has been able to replicate.” By processing everything through its returns centers, GENCO lowers the overall cost of product ownership throughout the supply chain, Rendulic explains. “Products either go back to the vendor or we’ll do test-repair-refurb and resale, while other merchandise goes straight to liquidations.” When retailers don’t want products sold in the secondary market, GENCO will have them destroyed and sell the recycled metals and other materials on the commodities market. “We capture additional value, as well as minimize the environmental impact by keeping things out of the landfill,” Rendulic points out.
Liquidation arm adds value
GENCO’s liquidation arm, GENCO Marketplace, is America’s largest wholesaler of retail returns and surplus inventories. “It is an integral part of the total reverse logistics process, adding extra value for customers further downstream in the supply chain,” Rendulic explains. With more than 15,000 wholesale pallets for sale at any given time, in nearly every product category, “we have anything and everything.” GENCO Marketplace sells big volume lots such as truckloads to bargain retailers and other independent secondary market resellers. Profit margins vary based on the products, and it’s a wide swath, Rendulic notes. Some customers break down these large lots to sell to people who don’t have the money to buy a truckload.
To enable buyers to spend less time sourcing liquidation inventory, and more time selling and making money, GENCO Marketplace recently redesigned its website. Features of the new site include:
- A shopping cart for fast, convenient purchasing.
- Easy navigation by product, price and shipping location.
- Drill downs to detailed product information, including manifests.
- An automated auction platform for easy management of online bids.
- An order history page for tracking past activity, including auctions won and lost.
To further assist some larger, product-specific customers, GENCO Marketplace has a preferred buyer program, called the “Turbo Program.” Program members obtain preferred buying status, so when a particular type of merchandise becomes available, it can be held for them. GENCO Marketplace offers its secondary market customers a steady stream of liquidation products, as well as stellar services and support. As a result, thousands of small businesses are making the company their primary source for wholesale customer returns and closeout merchandise.