Overstock.com finds the link between excess inventory and artisan goods

Online liquidator Overstock.com this week opened a new department that will sell handcrafted products from developing countries at low prices. The company is touting its new Worldstock department as socially responsible, saying it will "deliver maximium economic and social return to the artisans who create the goods."

The idea for the new department comes from Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, who holds a doctorate in philosophy from Stanford University with an emphasis in philosophical issues related to poverty and economic development. Byrne says he believes the market structure for artisan products in the developing world is similar to the liquidation market in the U.S. because both have highly fractured supply channels of scattered vendors selling products in quantities too small to be moved efficiently through mass retail.

"The system infrastrcture that we have developed for liquidating excess inventory--particularly in leveraging the efficiencies of the Internet and our warehouse--combined with our market following of more than 6 million monthly visitors is precisely what`s needed to connect artisans and American consumers on a large scale," Byrne said. "Our goal is to grow this department into a million-dollar-per-month business, which will help tens of thousands of disadvantaged people."

Worldstock features more than 300 handcrafted products, including such items as Thai mango wood vessels, Mexican multi-colored martini glasses and Cambodian silks.