Collectibles, according to public wisdom and convention, are rare items that are worth more than their face value simply because of their scarcity. The less there is of something, the more valuable it becomes. The collector’s markets take that belief a step further, adding a degree of speculation and market perception when defining an item or product’s worth. In the last decade the collector’s market for movie, television, and pop cultural memorabilia has swollen to incredible portions with millions of dollars being spent each month on hard-to-acquire, one of a kind relics and artifacts and on rare mass produced merchandise and products, like items with mistakes on the label or packaging. The order fulfillment for such products has become a true seller’s market, with eager collectors willing to pay often exorbitant sums to own the object of their desire.
Order Fulfillment And The Collector’s Market
Many of the product lines sought by collectors owe their continued desirability to maintaining a state of new-pristine quality commonly called “mint condition.” The closer to mint condition a product can remain, the more money it can fetch in both the real-world and online markets. As a matter of pride, most collectors will seldom settle for products that don’t at least approximate mint status. For online businesses and brick and mortar collectors’ boutiques, the pressure to maintain secure and climate controlled storage is the struggle to maintain the desired status of its inventory.
Outsourcing Offers Collectibles Merchants A Lifeline
Paradoxically, many of the businesses that cater to this growing collectors’ markets have yet to achieve the logistical complexity to fully take advantage of their seller’s-market situation. By outsourcing their warehousing and processing needs to a trained and efficiency-maximized third party fulfillment provider, they gain an edge over their completion by securing dependable, non-corrosive storage space.
In moving their storage space to a third party, independent provider, the company also gives their collectibles inventory an added virtue of security. The temptation to unfairly purchase and or otherwise obtain merchandise by employees and others and then sell the collectible at a sizeable markup, also known as “scalping,” remains a consistent problem in the collectibles marketplace. The fulfillment service company, being disinterested and ill-equipped to engage in such activities, will feel no such temptation, making the inventory safer and more readily available to the general public.