We’re incredibly excited to announce that Treet has raised a $10M Series A round led by Two Sigma Ventures, with participation from the lead investors in our previous rounds: First Round Capital, Bling Capital, and Techstars.
"We’re witnessing a monumental shift in the way people shop as the secondhand market continues to accelerate. With Treet’s approach to making launching resale programs a breeze, they’re positioned to help the greatest number of brands meet the demands of their customers.” - Dan Abelon, Partner at Two Sigma Ventures
Treet’s mission is to ensure every item created lives its longest life, and this new capital goes a long way toward helping Treet achieve that mission.
To celebrate the milestone, we’re sharing data and insights gathered from launching 150 branded resale programs, more than half of all programs launched in the past three years.
We hope to provide benchmarks for the industry, helping those who have already adopted resale better understand their performance and giving those without resale programs some guidance on what to expect.
Let’s dive in!
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Most Popular Types of Resale Programs
Treet's stackable resale solutions help brands craft custom programs that perfectly fit their needs. Brands may choose to enable one, two, or all four resale models to capture their entire available resale market.
Off-Price & Returns: Treet offers a dedicated Brand Direct path for brands to easily sell off-price items, returned inventory, samples, and more directly on their resale site. Brands can add Brand Direct units with a few clicks from their Shopify dashboard.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P): P2P is the most popular resale model, allowing customers to buy and sell items to and from each other in exchange for cash or credit back to the brand. It allows sellers to get the highest value for their items sold.
Trade-in: Trade-in is a resale experience where customers send items back to a brand or Treet’s network of fulfillment partners to be listed for resale. Sellers get the convenience of immediate credit for items sent. As this is Treet’s newest resale model, we expect an increasing number of brands to enable Trade-In in 2024.
Trade-in + Peer-to-Peer: This combination of resale models is growing in popularity amongst brands on Treet to give sellers an array of options when reselling items. It’s the best way to ensure brands are capturing all of their customers looking to participate in resale; value-seekers with P2P, and convenience-seekers with Trade-In.
Treet Brands in Resale (By Category)
...with new, exciting categories launching in 2024!!
What Makes Brands Fit For Resale
Brands with the following characteristics tend to thrive in branded resale:
Existing Secondhand Community: The presence of thriving BST (buy/sell/trade) Facebook groups and active listings on third-party platforms serves as a reliable gauge of a brand’s success in its branded resale endeavors.
Strong Online DTC: Existing secondhand listings alone don’t lead to success, as wholesale-leaning brands will often have large resale markets. Brands must also be able to reach a significant percentage of their customers online.
Category: We’ve seen the most growth from brands in the apparel and accessory sectors, but we’ve also seen growing demand in bedding, jewelry, home, and toys categories.
Audience Size: A key factor in the effectiveness of a resale program lies in having a large enough community available to resale the brand's items. Resale can be profitable on Treet for brands as low as 5,000 monthly site visits. Any lower and it’s difficult to make it work.
High-Quality Items: Last but not least, brands that prioritize quality have better resale success. Items crafted from durable, long-lasting materials are ideal for resale, as they can find new life and new owners for years to come.
“The launch of our Treet preloved marketplace to the Girlfriend community has been incredible. The Treet team made the setup easy and seamless, and after an incredibly successful launch day, the program now runs itself. We’ve seen boosted loyalty and great anecdotal feedback from customers who now know they have a trusted marketplace to buy and sell their Girlfriend clothes!” - May Saelee, COO of Girlfriend Collective
GTM Best Practices
Drawing on our experience launching over 150 brands into resale, we've identified several key tactics brands can leverage to achieve success.
Easy Access to the Resale Shop: Brands with a Top Level Header on their main site directing to their resale shop have an average of 109% more resale purchases per month.
Head Start for Sellers: Almost all brands launching P2P resale platforms allow early access to their community for sellers to list items before the platform goes live. A growing number of brands (around 10%) incentivize early participation by offering sellers additional brand credit. This jumpstarts the platform by populating it with diverse items and sizes before its official opening, increasing the chances of sales on day one.
Tentpole Holidays: A key strategy for driving additional sales to your resale shop is participating in holidays that celebrate sustainability and secondhand shopping. 38% of Treet brands ran campaigns last year and saw incremental revenue when hosting flash sales or seasonal discounts during Earth Month, Secondhand Sunday, and National Secondhand Wardrobe Day.
Treet-Driven Marketing: To find real success with resale, it’s not enough for the brands alone to drive traffic and sales. Treet’s automated marketing systems are designed to drive long-term engagement. With AI-powered shopping recommendations, buyer/seller matching for “in search of items,” automated messaging to encourage selling at the appropriate times, and more, Treet-driven marketing drives over 25% of sales across our sites.
IRL Community Engagement: Brands that have brick-and-mortar stores can leverage in-person events showcasing sections of pre-loved collections to drive omnichannel engagement. This strategy, exemplified by the recent Treet x Dôen event in NYC, increases both foot traffic and customer interest in the brand’s resale shop.
Treet Thrifters by the Numbers
Branded resale is driving customer retention and loyalty for Treet’s community of brands:
The numbers speak for themselves – there’s no question the value resale can add to your brand. In powering the majority of resale shops online today, we're seeing a profound shift towards circularity and sustainable consumerism that shows no signs of slowing down. Embracing branded resale isn't just a strategic move for your brand, it's a pivotal step toward aligning your brand with the evolving values of today's conscientious consumers.
If you're still on the fence about branded resale, let’s connect and see if it’s a fit for you!