CPGs felt the pressure in 2025. Margins were tighter. Inventory and return volumes rose. Sales channels fragmented. And moving excess inventory quickly, yet strategically, went from “wouldn’t that be nice,” to a business imperative.

But liquidation doesn’t have to mean write-offs, fire sales, and manual, error-prone work. With the right systems, trusted partners, and clear governance, CPGs can turn their excess inventory into a strategic asset. Done right, liquidation can become a consistent source of cost recovery, brand discovery, and valuable data — automatically. 

Spoiler Alert gives CPGs the ability to turn excess inventory from “assets that burden” into “assets that work.” Our software infrastructure and channel expertise offer a smart, brand-safe way to sell excess, with automatic, transparent systems built for modern businesses. Excess inventory starts working for CPGs, not against them.

In this report, we’ll break down:

  • Why inventory and return loads keep growing — and what that means for liquidation
  • How today’s liquidation ecosystem has evolved across channels, buyers, logistics, and data
  • Why brand integrity, sustainability, and liquidation strategy are inseparable in modern supply chains
  • How next-generation governance and analytics (powered by Spoiler Alert) help CPGs turn excess into advantage

The Current Landscape: Inventory Pressure and Margin Compression

No one needs another report to tell them inventory pressure is rising — CPGs feel it every day. Supply chain disruptions — from tariffs and rising costs, to more positive business moves like M&A and innovations — continue to create excess inventory across categories. Every box sitting in a warehouse adds holding costs, strains capital, and can eventually lead to discounting or disposal. Excess inventory isn’t just an operational burden. When not managed properly, it’s a drag on profitability. 

At the same time, traditional pricing levers are less effective. Bain noted in their 2025 Consumer Products Report that CPGs have “limited room for further price increases,” and that volumes still have a long path to recovery before overall sales grow again. Deloitte reinforces the trend: more than half (51%) of CPG executives say they can no longer rely on price hikes to drive revenue growth. 

EY put it bluntly in their 2025 State of Consumer Products report: “Pricing growth is not sustainable,” and companies will need new strategies.

Combine this with shifting consumer behavior — shoppers hunting for value, while also demanding more sustainability and transparency from brands — alongside an increasingly unpredictable macro environment, and the pressure intensifies. Sales channels are splintering. Retailers are resetting expectations. Economic signals change month to month. All of it compounds the need for CPGs to manage excess with more discipline, visibility, and speed.

In this environment, liquidation isn’t simply about clearing space. It’s about recovering value, protecting brand equity, and doing it quickly enough to keep working capital moving. Excess that lingers becomes excess that costs.

This is where streamlined systems and data matter. Spoiler Alert brings inventory insights and trusted buyers into one, easy-to-use, digitized workflow — giving CPG teams immediate visibility to enable smarter decision-making and increase value recovery.

Defining Liquidation Efficiency

Too many CPGs know what “bad” looks like when it comes to liquidation efficiency. But before we talk about what “good” looks like, it helps to define the goal. Liquidation efficiency is more than just selling excess inventory quickly. It’s a combination of process, speed, cost-to-recover, margin retention, channel integrity, and brand protection that determines how effectively a CPG offloads surplus stock.

Efficient liquidation means moving product out of the warehouse with minimal friction — and doing so in a way that preserves brand value, protects retail relationships, and maximizes cost recovery. It’s applying a strategy and effective management to a part of the business that has historically been reactive, manual, and opaque.

A comprehensive strategy considers every available pathway for SLOBs:

  • Internal or controlled outlets (including DTC clearance)
  • Specialty discount and off-price retail partners
  • Secondary-market liquidation and resale networks
  • Donation and redistribution channels — especially critical for food and beverages
  • Recycling or destruction — only as a last resort

But knowing the channels, and even having access to them, isn’t enough. Efficient liquidation relies on matching the right product to the right buyer at the right time. That means clear buyer segmentation, channel guardrails, and thoughtful pricing tactics that balance recovery, speed, and brand safety.

When CPGs approach liquidation this way, it shifts from a reactive clean-up effort to a strategic lever — one that reduces operational drag, strengthens sustainability commitments, and helps teams make better decisions about inventory before it becomes a problem.

Secondary Market Trends in 2025

The dynamics of discount, off-price, and secondary markets are shifting — and those shifts matter for CPG teams managing excess inventory. These channels are no longer the quiet end of the retail spectrum. They’re growing, evolving, and fueled by consumer behavior. The risks these channels have traditionally brought along are starting to be outweighed by their opportunity. But in order to take advantage, CPGs need technology and data visibility that can meet the challenge.

Let’s dive into the big trends this year in the secondary market, what to look for in the year ahead, and how CPGs can use these shifts to improve their liquidation efficiency.

The U.S. discount and off-price retail market is accelerating.

Discount and off-price retail is expanding fast in the United States, and you don’t have to look hard to find proof.

On TJX’s most recent earnings call, leadership noted that “customers were drawn to our excellent values and brands… customer transactions were up at every division.”

Grocery Outlet’s net sales are up 5.4% YOY in Q3, with gross margin at the top of their guidance and store openings ahead of forecasts.

Total sales increased by 10% in Q3 at Ross, with broad-based growth across all categories. For the fourth quarter, Ross forecasted their highest increase in a decade, with comparable store sales expected to rise by 3-4%

Discount channels aren’t stagnant. They’re gaining share, improving operations, and significantly increasing their capacity to absorb excess inventory.

For CPGs, this all means opportunity. But with opportunity comes competition — and tighter expectations around price, delivery, and brand integrity. Liquidation may offer more upside, but only for CPGs that approach it with structure and discipline.

The secondary-market ecosystem is expanding and diversifying.

Alongside off-price growth, the broader resale and liquidation ecosystem is evolving. With new “treasure hunt” e-commerce platforms alongside well-respected value stores, the universe of buyers who want name-brand products at a discount is expanding.

For CPGs, this means more opportunities, but also more challenges in managing these channels. It’s no longer a question of “should we sell to an off-price retailer,” but which one, under what terms, and at what price? 

With the increase in channels comes an increase in pressure to get products into the hands of interested consumers. Speed-to-market, buyer segmentation, traceability, and data analytics become critical for leveraging these channels effectively. Channel fragmentation also means more governance risk — unless you have visibility and control.

It’s this complexity that is leading many CPGs to digitize their liquidation workflows. These challenges aren’t going away — but teams who can navigate them effectively will rise to meet them.

Consumer behavior and a value-mindset continue to fuel discount retail.

Consumers are hunting for value — not just because prices remain high, but because the stigma of buying discounted goods has nearly disappeared. Retail earnings across the board are beating forecasts, as shoppers hunt for goods at great prices, and love discovering new brands at a discount.

Discount retailer Martie’s co-founder said it best: “Martie customers are looking for products they don’t typically see in their local grocery stores, and for an opportunity to discover new brands.” They prove that by becoming repeat customers — 83% of Martie customers report buying the same products at full price later.

This mix of both economic reality alongside social shifts means that demand at discount and value channels is stronger than many CPGs expect. When excess inventory flows into the right secondary outlets, it often performs better — and more quickly — than predicted.

Liquidation is no longer a strategy that can be ignored. With the right technology and processes, it is a meaningful contributor to not just revenue recovery, but brand reach.

Discount risks are real — but outweighed by opportunity (with guardrails).

But as discount channels grow, so do the risks. Price-reference erosion, brand dilution, and unauthorized buyer flows can increase. Channel leakage can lead to inconsistent presentations and blind spots in data for CPGs. 

However, when managed well, the upside of discount growth far outweighs the downside. Strategic and efficient liquidation can contribute to margin recovery, sell-through gains, reduced waste, and improved sustainability performance.

With the right guardrails, risks become manageable. With the right technology, they become predictable.

Technology and logistics are essential for liquidation success.

Off-price retailers and secondary buyers thrive on speed. That means CPGs need to meet them by offering excess inventory and refreshing assortments rapidly. 

Something as simple as changing pricing according to shelf-life can be the difference between moving product or not, but for many teams without enough time or the right tools, even simple processes are out of reach.

Because liquidation is no longer as simple as selling excess to a single discount partner, CPGs who want to take full advantage of their excess inventory must think about logistics as well. Platforms, buyers, channels, timing, and visibility all play a role. 

This is where Spoiler Alert comes in — digitizing workflows, standardizing data, managing offers, routing product intelligently, and helping CPGs move quickly without compromising brand standards. 

With Spoiler Alert, CPGs can succeed in the growing discount and secondary market while protecting their brands.

Metrics & Benchmarking: How Liquidation Leaders Are Measuring Success

The days of evaluating liquidation success by “whether we moved it out of the warehouse” are gone. If liquidation is going to be treated as a strategic lever — and by now, it’s clear it should be — CPGs need reliable ways to measure performance. Liquidation Leaders track recovery, speed, margin protection, and channel integrity with the same attention they apply to traditional retail.

Across the industry, a few KPIs consistently surface as the strongest indicators of liquidation performance:

  • Sell-Through Rate — Defined as the “cost of sold inventory” divided by the “cost of available inventory,” sell-through rate is our #1 recommended KPI.

  • Recovery Rate of Sold Inventory — Whereas sell-through rate is the leading volume KPI, recovery rate of sold inventory is the leading value KPI. It is defined as the “revenue from sold inventory” divided by the “cost of sold inventory.”

  • Gross Recovery Rate — Volume and value come together in gross recovery rate, the ultimate “metric that matters” for measuring the success of a liquidation program. Gross recovery rate is defined as “revenue from sold inventory” divided by “cost of available inventory.”

These KPIs aren’t new. What’s new is the expectation that they’re tracked at a high level of granularity — and updated in real time. And while industry-wide benchmarks for liquidation performance are still limited, the story in 2025 is this: CPG leaders who win are the ones reframing liquidation from a cost center to a recovery engine.

A recent report from PwC echoes this shift. Their findings show that CPG companies are increasingly focused on value extraction — reducing profit erosion from excess inventory, increasing the efficiency of nontraditional channels, and investing in tools that turn reactive processes into measurable ROI. In other words, instead of asking, “How much did excess cost us?” — teams are now asking, “How much did we recover, and how do we do more of it?”

This shift matters because it changes the expectations for what “good” looks like. Moving product out the door is no longer enough. Leading brands want to understand how their recovery, velocity, and channel performance compare against internal targets, quarter over quarter. They’re benchmarking against themselves — and getting better every cycle.

How? Digitized liquidation processes make all of this possible. With Spoiler Alert, CPGs can:

  • Track recovery, velocity, and sell-through data in real time
  • Compare offer performance across buyers and channels
  • Identify leakage and protect brand standards
  • Understand which products, formats, and timelines yield the strongest outcomes

Instead of patchwork spreadsheets or manual reporting, teams get a consolidated view of performance — and the ability to measure liquidation with the same discipline they apply everywhere else in the business.

When KPIs are clear and the data is accessible, liquidation becomes more than a clean-up step. It becomes a measurable driver of value.

Discount & Off-Price Channel Focus: Why It Works

Discount and off-price channels are more than just a last-resort outlet for excess inventory. For many CPGs, they are a strategic part of the liquidation ecosystem — and, when managed well, an ideal program for recovering value while protecting brand integrity.

Why discount buyers and shoppers matter

Discount retailers reach a consumer base that is both value-seeking and often untapped by traditional retail programs. They offer large reach, fast-moving inventory, and shoppers who are primed to engage with new brands at discounted prices. When working with discount buyers, your excess inventory moves quickly, freeing up working capital and reducing the costs of holding onto stock.

Why it works

Success in discount channels isn’t accidental — it comes from strong buyer relationships, careful pricing, and clearly defined channel exclusivity. Leading discount partners know their shoppers inside and out, and they treat the products they carry with care. That combination ensures that liquidation programs deliver real value without compromising brand perception.

But, without a strong, digitized system for managing excess into these channels, CPGs often hesitate. Price-reference erosion, brand dilution, grey-market exposure, and loss of control are real risks. Many teams default to caution — leaving revenue on the table because the process feels too complicated.

That’s where Spoiler Alert makes the difference. With centralized workflows, automated rules, and buyer segmentation, CPGs can confidently sell to mission-driven discount retailers whose customers value a good deal, and love a treasure hunt. These partners know their consumers and maximize the value of excess inventory, while your team retains visibility and control.

Technology, Analytics, & Data-Driven Liquidation

The landscape for CPGs is changing fast, and one statistic from the PwC 2025 report stands out: nearly half of companies (49%) believe their current operating models won’t be viable in a decade. Liquidation is no exception. Legacy, manual, and fragmented processes can’t keep up with today’s demands for speed, transparency, and margin recovery.

To succeed in 2026 — and stay ahead of the competition — CPGs need technology that makes the entire liquidation process simple, fast, and visible. That means having a single source of truth for the full cycle: from listing excess inventory to tracking offers, monitoring buyers, and verifying sell-through. Tools like Spoiler Alert’s Command Center give teams that line of sight, putting data to work in real time.

Historical data is equally critical. Understanding how products, buyers, and channels performed in the past informs smarter decisions for the future. Which buyers consistently deliver strong sell-through? Which product types or formats move fastest? Having this information at your fingertips allows CPG teams to act decisively, without guesswork or manual analysis.

AI-powered liquidation technology takes this a step further. It can surface optimal routing for products, suggest pricing and transportation strategies, and help teams move excess inventory faster than competitors — all while maintaining brand and channel integrity.

By combining real-time visibility, historical insights, and AI-driven recommendations, CPGs can turn what was once a reactive, error-prone process into a strategic advantage. Liquidation becomes not just about clearing space, but about driving measurable value, improving margins, and staying ahead in an increasingly competitive market.

Outlook for 2026 and Beyond: What CPGs Should Watch

Consumer and channel behavior continues to evolve, and smart CPGs need to anticipate how those shifts will affect excess inventory management. Shoppers are increasingly value-conscious, seeking quality products at a discount, and discount channels are expanding both in reach and sophistication. At the same time, alternative channels — from DTC outlet programs to subscription-based offerings — are gaining traction, creating new pathways to move product efficiently.

Some key questions for CPG teams as they plan for 2026: Will the value-seeking mindset persist? Which digital and resale channels will expand fastest? And how important will emerging channels like subscription or DTC clearance become to overall liquidation strategy?

External factors will continue to add complexity. Tariffs, cost volatility, supply-chain disruptions, and evolving regulations around waste and sustainability all influence excess inventory and how fast CPGs can move it. CPGs that wait until excess becomes urgent risk reacting under pressure, instead of taking advantage of these market dynamics strategically.

Treating liquidation as a core competency, rather than an afterthought, means putting a system in place now — one that provides real-time visibility, automates processes, and integrates buyers, channels, and pricing decisions — so teams are ready for the next cycle of excess inventory.

How Spoiler Alert Helps

Liquidation efficiency is more than just a metric, it’s a strategic capability. CPGs that digitize and refine their liquidation programs turn excess inventory into opportunity, protect brand equity, support sustainability initiatives, and improve working capital.

Spoiler Alert helps CPGs make liquidation efficiency a reality. Our platform provides the tools and infrastructure CPGs need to move faster, smarter, and more confidently:

  • Rapid time-to-market — List and move excess inventory quickly, keeping pace with value-driven channels and evolving consumer demand.
  • Access to a broad buyer network — Reach trusted discount and secondary-market partners who maximize value while respecting your brand.
  • Analytics and dashboards — Gain real-time visibility into sell-through and recovery rates, along with channel performance to make data-driven decisions.
  • Brand-safe guardrails — Apply automated rules and buyer segmentation to protect brand perception and channel integrity.
  • Logistics automation — Simplify routing, shipping, and offer management so your team can focus on strategy, not manual tasks.

With Spoiler Alert, liquidation is no longer reactive — it’s a repeatable, measurable, and scalable part of your business.

Ready to see how it works? Schedule a call with one of our liquidation experts to explore how your program can recover more value, move faster, and operate with full visibility and control.

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