Recommerce – the buying and selling of pre-owned products – is nothing new. Thrift stores have existed for more than a century: the Salvation Army launched its first store in 1897; eBay launched nearly thirty years ago; and Amazon has sold used books since the 1990s. But in the last few years, recommerce has experienced exponential growth online.
In 2023, the U.S. recommerce market was valued at an estimated $188 billion and is expected to reach $276 billion by 2028. A large portion of these products are clothing, jewelry and electronics (fun fact: eBay’s first sale was a broken laser pointer). The second-hand fashion market is expected to grow 127% by 2026, exceeding $200 billion in sales globally.
Recommerce has a broad appeal for consumers, who can shop sustainably and have access to luxury items at significantly reduced prices. The trend resonates most deeply with younger shoppers. A 2023 Barclaycard Payments survey found that Gen-Z is at the forefront; over two-thirds now prefer to buy secondhand over new products. And thirty percent of U.K. respondents said they consider “pre-loved” items to be more fashionable than new items.
Repurposing Items Helps Brands
A growing number of brands are implementing their own resale platforms to promote sustainability and win back recommerce market share from outside resellers. Outdoor apparel brands like Patagonia and REI were early adopters of the recommerce trend: they issue gift cards in exchange for gently worn items, which they then resell.
This is a particularly important way for brands to align with consumer demand. Research shows that 76% of global consumers prefer to shop with retailers that find innovative ways to repurpose services and materials. And 62% of consumers said that they would purchase more from a brand that officially partners with a secondhand platform or company.
Today, more than a dozen major brands, including Atheta, J.Crew, PacSun, Tommy Hilfiger and Vera Bradley, partner with ThredUp, a resale-as-a-service vendor that helps brands build circularity into their business models, as well as acting as an online consignment store for individual sellers. Bergdorf Goodman partners with Fashionphile, a platform for buying and selling ultra-luxury, pre-owned accessories. And platforms like Recurate, Archive, and Trove provide white-labeled tech solutions to brands.
Brands such as Lululemon have offered resale programs worldwide. Ikea U.S. launched its BuyBack & Resell program in 2021, which enables customers to sell back used and assembled Ikea furniture in exchange for store credit. Resale is part of IKEA’s broader effort to reduce company waste and extend the lifetime of their products by 2030. Ikea U.S.A. also has aims to install 500 public fast chargers and more than 300 fleet chargers.
Amazon Warehouse offers deals on quality used, pre-owned or open-box products. The retailer uses a rigorous 20-point quality process to give shoppers a quick understanding of the product’s condition to ensure consumers are provided with clear standards for resale goods.
Technology Helps Drive Recommerce
Advances in technology are a key reason for the recent rise in online recommerce. One hurdle has always been the customer’s inability to inspect items for quality; typically, they relied on a site to disclose flaws. But technology can now create immersive 3D visuals, allowing customers to examine products from all angles. Last year, Cappasity launched Mertsy SDK, which can replicate an in-store browsing experience on websites and mobile apps.
Live shopping on social media has also skyrocketed in the past several years. One of Instagram’s most popular luxury handbag resellers, Nica Yusay, hosts live shopping events several times a week, in which shoppers can bid for bags. In 2021, she reportedly made $300,000.
And while live commerce – interactive livestreams on digital platforms – is still most popular in Asia, it is growing in the United States. Livestream e-commerce sales in the U.S. reached $50 billion in 2023 and are projected to grow by 36 percent over the next three years.
Authentication Is Getting Easier
Finally, technology-driven authentication solutions make the authentication of items more reliable. Some luxury retailers, like Louis Vuitton, embed an RFID sticker inside products so that they can be authenticated later during resale. Artificial intelligence can also now catch inconsistencies on a level that’s undetectable to the human eye, flagging indications of fakes based on logo placement and trademarks.
Platforms like Veracity Protocol and Thruwave use blockchain to solve this problem. Veracity Protocol’s site, for example, promises that “Using a smartphone, you can identify, authenticate, and track anything by creating a non-invasive code that represents an object’s unique material structure. It is impossible to breach or tamper with.”
The Future of Recommerce Looks Bright
Recommerce has grown significantly and is expected by one estimate to reach $77 billion in value by 2025. As retailers respond to consumer preferences and changing spending patterns, they are redefining the traditional notion of commerce to create a more sustainable and dynamic retail landscape.
The popularity of recommerce in the U.S. has only increased with the internet. As consumers continue to embrace thrifting, businesses should also look for additional ways to grow their own use of recommerce, whether that be through accepting and reselling gently used items, repurposing them, and embracing new technology to improve the experience for consumers.