Trove, the U.S.-based service provider whose technology powers the resale services of several sporting goods manufacturers, has released its first Brand Resale Index, titled “Defining the Resale Experience.” The index is the first report of its kind, agnostic to the resale platform provider and it evaluates the adoption of leading practices across 40 brands in four verticals: Fashion/Apparel, Outdoor, Footwear and Luxury. Working with OSF Digital, these 40 brands were evaluated on 147 criteria across brand positioning, commerce and trade-in experiences, with general consideration given to how the resale business model potentially contributes to environmental sustainability.
Resale is expected and in demand, growing faster than retail
A core finding of the Brand Resale Index is that resale is to brands what e-commerce was two decades ago: a retail model that meets ever-increasing expectations for value, experience and sustainability – in other words, an ample opportunity. Brands and retailers, it says, are currently open to showcasing leading retail practices to tap into and leverage new growth channels. This opportunity is why global resale is now $100 billion, growing five times faster than retail, and is expected to account for 23 percent of total retail by 2030.
Some of the key findings from Trove’s 2023 Brand Resale Index
• Several top resale brand leaders (by vertical industry) emerged among more than 40 brands across a range of industries:
- Overall: REI - 72%
- Outdoor: Arc’teryx - 68%
- Fashion/Apparel: Amour Vert - 66%
- Footwear: On - 59
- Luxury goods: Phillip Lim - 53
• Outdoor brands proved to be the most mature in the index, while fashion/apparel and footwear grew the most over the past year.
• According to the report, everyone wins when brands create their own resale story. Branding a resale program is a powerful tool for creating a coherent narrative that will win over audiences and optimize the resale process. Storytelling is a clear success factor.
• Patagonia was the top performer in resale brand positioning, adopting 78 percent of the leading marketing and brand positioning practices.
• On their websites, 50 percent of brands offer content about resale programs, but only 34 percent offer content about their resale program on their homepage.
• Only 35 percent of brands promote their resale program through social media.
• Coach was the leader in the trade category, implementing 76 percent of the leading trade practices.
• Only 25 percent of brands allow customers to combine new and used items in the same cart.
• Only 49 percent of brands allow customers to filter by product condition (quality of condition, i.e., new or used) on the category page, even though the condition of the item is indicated on the product pages.
• Particularly relevant and important for luxury and higher priced items, 57 percent include brand and product authentication of trade-in or consignment products.
• Brands that offer seamless trade-in experiences help tap into the $2.1 trillion in unused branded items in shoppers’ closets while building brand loyalty.
• Lululemon’s Like New program led the “Trade-in/Selling (Stores)” category for its trade-in program in in-store interactions, a capability adopted by 44 percent of all brands compared.
• 85 percent of brands offer trade-in by mail, allowing customers to trade in their products no matter where they live.
• 93 percent of brands offer gift cards for trade-ins or as compensation for sales.
• Although all 40 brands in the index cited sustainability as a customer benefit, not all resale programs are good sustainability programs. The clearest way to tell whether a brand resale program is truly circular is whether the program has the potential to shift revenue from new products (revenue from new item sales) to revenue from existing products (revenue from selling or servicing existing items over a longer product life).
• Brand resale programs based primarily on purchase incentives for new products are risky for brands seeking to advertise sustainable propositions.
You can find the full Brand Resale Index 2023 and all results here.
