Fashion

Resale market is not a threat to luxury fashion, according to new study


Luxury fashion companies should celebrate the growing consumer
interest in pre-owned items rather than seeing it as a threat. While
fashion houses like Chanel have spoken out against popular resale
retailers like The RealReal and What Goes Around Comes Around, new research
conducted by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in partnership with
reseller Vestaire Collective confirms that the second-hand market is
actually way to boost luxury sales through helping new consumer
demographics to garner an interest in luxury.

BCG and Vestaire Collective surveyed over 1,000 Vestaire Collective
clients in 2018 and used the responses of 12,000 participants in 2019
BCG survey to determine how luxury brands can benefit from the
explosion of the resale market.

Resale is a recruiting mechanism for luxury brands

The study determined that the second-hand market acts as a
recruiting mechanism for luxury brands, as it encourages first-time
luxury buyers to foster an interest in high-end brands. Seventy-one
percent of pre-owned buyers shop for items from brands they cannot
afford to purchase new. BCG and Vestaire Collective concluded that
this data proves that the resale market can serve as a tool for luxury
brands to engage with consumers who will likely be their own primary
customers in the future, when the purchasing power of these consumers
increases.

Similarly, 62 percent of respondents said that they bought their
first item by a pre-owned and almost all of those respondents then
said they would want to buy that brand again. Fifty-seven percent of
resale shoppers would buying a future luxury item first-hand.

Second-hand sellers are first-hand buyers

“The buyers and sellers in the second-hand market are not the
same,” stated Olivier Abtan, managing director and partner of BCG.
“The buyers cannot usually afford new products and second-hand is
their way into the luxury world. Second-hand sellers are usually
buyers of traditional luxury goods. They sell to reinvest in new
full-price luxury products.”

Consumers who are selling second-hand luxury items typically do so
in order to have the ability to reinvest in new, first-hand items. The
consumers in this category do not tend to purchase second-hand, as
Vestaire Collective noted that 70 percent of the total pre-owned sales
on its platform are generated by sellers who seldom purchase
second-hand.

Therefore, the study shows that luxury brands should support the
resale market as it encourages its current target customer to return
and make more first-hand purchases. In fact, 44 percent of sellers
said that they purchase more expensive luxury items than they would
have bought without a resale market.

Second hand is a great way to boost sustainability

Fashion resale has almost become synonymous with sustainability as
more companies aim to offer solutions to high amounts of clothing
waste. The option to sell used luxury items to a new owner extends the
lifetime of these items, which is an important factor to younger
consumers who are concerned. with the social and environmental impact
of their purchases.

BCG and Vestaire Collective confirmed that as millenial and Gen-Z
shoppers place greater importance impact of their purchases than
previous generations, over 70 percent aim to shop ethically. Of these
young consumers, 57 percent said that environmental impact is their
primary concern.

“The second-hand market prolongs the life of luxury products. Most
of what is sold on luxury second-hand platforms is of high quality,
with 62% of the clothes either unworn or hardly worn. Brands wishing
to be more eco- friendly benefit from this circular luxury economy,”
explained Abtan.

Image: Vestaire Collective



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.