From Surplus to Sold: How Spoiler Alert iQ and Managed Marketplace Are Reducing Waste and Improving Affordable Access
BOSTON, MA / ACCESS Newswire / March 24, 2026 / Spoiler Alert today announced it has been named No. 7 in the Logistics category on Fast Company's 2026 Most Innovative Companies list, recognizing its work transforming excess and slow-moving inventory from a costly afterthought into a strategic growth opportunity for consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands - helping reduce waste, expand access to affordable goods, and deliver a meaningful win for the planet.
Every year, billions of pounds of perfectly usable CPG products are destroyed not because of spoilage or lack of marketability, but because the systems for moving them are slow and inefficient. Liquidation has long been one of the most manual and fragmented functions in the CPG supply chain, often managed through spreadsheets and opaque resale channels with little visibility or control. The result: financial losses for brands, missed access to affordable goods for value-conscious consumers, and avoidable environmental impact. Spoiler Alert is changing that, bringing intelligence and automation to a process that has historically been left behind.
At the center of this transformation is Spoiler Alert iQ, the CPG industry's leading intelligent software suite purpose-built to manage the "mess of excess." Designed specifically for liquidation leaders, iQ combines logistics, pricing, historical performance, and buyer behavior data with proprietary algorithms to automate negotiations, optimize pricing, and accelerate sell-through.
Since launch, customers using iQ have reported:
46% increases in buyer response rates
35%+ improvements in cost recovery
300+ hours saved annually per user
By taking closeouts from manual to intelligent, iQ enables sales, supply chain, finance, and inventory teams to generate stronger recovery outcomes while reducing waste.
Complementing iQ is Managed Marketplace, Spoiler Alert's curated network of 100+ verified value-channel buyers. Managed Marketplace gives CPG brands immediate access to a trusted buyer ecosystem - including discount retailers, food banks and nonprofits, and other mission-aligned partners, eliminating lengthy onboarding processes while maintaining full visibility into bidding activity and buyer participation. All Marketplace buyers are vetted, credit-approved, and transact under established terms, giving suppliers confidence and control. In less than 12 months, verified buyers purchased more than $300 million of inventory through the platform.
"Our number one issue with distressed inventory is simply getting rid of it, not recovering margin. Before Spoiler Alert, we had 12 to 15 customers we could sell to. Managed Marketplace added 70 to 80 verified buyers we didn't have access to before, and with every cycle we've had buyers from that network bidding and winning. It's been a definite win," said Ashley Oien, Sr. Director of Demand Planning, Rise Baking Company.
Since launching its sales platform in 2019, Spoiler Alert has facilitated nearly $6 billion in product sales and helped move 2.0 billion pounds of inventory, keeping usable goods out of landfills, reducing the climate impacts of wasted production, and improving financial outcomes for brands. The company has also enabled more than 25 million pounds of food donations through nonprofit partnerships, furthering its mission to power the waste-free economy and expand affordable access to consumer goods.
"Being recognized by Fast Company reinforces what we have believed since day one: excess inventory is not waste, it is opportunity," said Ricky Ashenfelter, CEO and Co-Founder of Spoiler Alert. "When brands have the intelligence, transparency, network, and control to act on that opportunity, everyone wins - the supplier, the retailer, the consumer, and the planet. We built Spoiler Alert iQ and Managed Marketplace to give CPG brands the intelligence, transparency, and control they need over one of the most complex parts of their business. We are just getting started."
About Spoiler Alert
Spoiler Alert is a Boston-based software company transforming how CPG brands, wholesalers, and retailers manage excess and slow-moving inventory. Spoiler Alert powers the industry's leading B2B commerce platform for inventory liquidation and opportunistic merchandising. The platform is purpose-built to maximize value recovery, reduce inventory write-offs, strengthen customer relationships, and boost the effectiveness of sales and supply chain teams.
Founded by MIT alumni, the company works with many of the world's most recognized brands and retailers, including Unilever, SC Johnson, Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, KeHE Distributors, Dot Foods, Grocery Outlet, and Ollie's.
Learn more at www.spoileralert.com, follow us on LinkedIn, or message us at press@spoileralert.com.
SOURCE: Spoiler Alert
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/computers-technology-and-internet/spoiler-alert-named-%237-in-logistics-on-fast-companys-most-innovat-1151059
