When you hear the words customer loyalty, resale may not immediately pop into your mind – that’s all about to change. There is no customer more loyal than one willing to buy your products secondhand, likely in less than perfect condition. Until recently, however, shopping directly from the brand and shopping secondhand have been wildly different experiences. Because of that, brands did not see the brand love when it happened on third party platforms. They were also losing out on a meaningful way to reengage with customers selling their items to others.
Fortunately, new technology has allowed brands to take control of their secondhand markets by launching their own resale experiences. With brands like Allbirds, The North Face and CUTS jumping on board, the demand for seamless, branded resale has increased tenfold (according to The Recommerce 100 report there are currently 90 brands with resale shops, with 93K total listings – a 300% YOY growth). What’s most surprising to many is that resale has become a way to drastically increase customer loyalty, rather than cannibalizing sales.
Let’s review three ways resale can help drive customer loyalty for your brand:
1. You’ll create a positive brand interaction beyond the initial sale. Let’s face it, your clothing items are already being resold and traded on other platforms – you are just not involved. Giving your customers an outlet to buy and sell gently used items directly through your site rather than another platform helps you meet them halfway and curate a better experience. They’ll be able to sell from their order history at higher prices, get credit back to your brand, and even sell items faster than anywhere else. They will love it.
2. You’ll increase customer lifetime value. When reselling an item directly through your brand, the customer has an option to receive cash or a greater value in credit back to your brand. At Treet, we see over 60% of customers opting for credit to our brand partners and spending 2-3X more than their allotted credit when shopping for a new item. See a real DTC fashion client example below:
3. You’ll deliver more value to your customers – and the planet. Consumer awareness of the current state of the planet has never been greater than in this (nearly) post-pandemic world. Largely driven by Gen Z, the sustainable generation, the shift towards a greener lifestyle put pressure on retailers to find ways to be more eco-friendly. This is not an easy task for brands that are not inherently ‘green’. While resale itself does not make a brand fully sustainable, it is a big step in the right direction, and one that can be implemented in just a couple of weeks. Showing your customers that you share in their care for the world and are taking action undoubtedly helps keep them coming back.
Responding to shifting customer demands with more sustainable offerings like resale can both attract new customers and improve loyalty of your current ones. Customers gain new value from used assets and your sales loop stays closed within your brand ecosystem. It’s a win-win-in for your brand, your customers, and the planet.
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Interested in launching your own, fully-branded resale experience? Reach out to us at sales@treet.co to learn more.