Addressing the concerns of secondhand shoppers using lessons learned from e-commerce
Secondhand is gaining in popularity across all generations, but it is still relatively new to most shoppers. Shoppers are attracted to the benefits of shopping secondhand, but are still somewhat wary of the perceived risks of doing so. In many ways, secondhand shopping is today where e-commerce was in the early 2000s. Back then shoppers were concerned with some of the same things they are working through with re-commerce, including quality and fraud. It only took a few years for e-commerce to become a natural part of our shopping experience. Many of the lessons learned in developing that channel can be applied to making re-commerce as natural of an experience. Today, we’ll look at the key concerns faced by secondhand shoppers, and consider how we can apply the lessons learned from the development of e-commerce can be applied to ease those concerns.
Authenticity
E-commerce has made it easier for us to find any product we want. Unfortunately, it has also made it easier for counterfeit products to reach shoppers. This is particularly true for luxury products. Approximately 40% of luxury counterfeit sales occur online. In an effort to combat this scourge, brands implemented a number of strategies, including lobbying for stronger counterfeit legislation, aggressively prosecuting offenders, and tightly controlling distribution. More recently, their efforts included digital IDs and artificial intelligence.
This issue naturally extends to secondhand markets as counterfeit products inevitably find their way there. Several of the technological approaches applied in e-commerce are also well-suited for re-commerce. For example, digital IDs allow product provenance to pass from one shopper to the next in a traceable and verifiable manner. Ideally, the product is digitally tagged when it is first manufacturered, but the benefit of digital IDs is no less powerful if the product is tagged in the secondary market after it was authenticated. This approach could dramatically cut down on sales of counterfeits, and perhaps even increase the value of genuine products. Similarly, artificial intelligence can be employed to spot counterfeits quickly and inexpensively. Subtle difference between the genuine article and the counterfeit — a different type of stitch, or a color that was not originally available from the brand — could be stopped before the seller is even able to post the product for sale.
However, technology can only go so far in solving this problem. Another decidedly low-tech approach is critical to assuaging shopper concern over product authenticity — brands must take control of the secondhand transaction to reconnect with their customers. In a re-commerce context, this can be best achieved by bringing the marketplace in-house. Establishing a branded marketplace allows a brand to increase oversight, trust, and accountability among its community and over the secondhand transactions that involve its products. When brands are willing to oversee what gets listed in their marketplaces, and step in to support shoppers when needed, they are reconnecting their brand’s value to the products they make and to their customers.
E-commerce allowed brands to reach more customers than they could through retail alone, but at the same time it led to a separation of the brand from the products it sells and the customer who buys it. When a myriad of online stores offer what is seemingly the same product, it becomes harder to know which products are genuine, and much harder to fight counterfeits. When products are made available for resale, a branded re-commerce marketplace provides brands with a rare opportunity to reconnect with their shoppers and oversee the transactions that are taking place in their marketplaces.
Condition
We have come to expect that the condition of a new product that we buy online is just that, new. Our purchasing decision therefore shifts to other factors — price, fit, availability, etc. On the other hand, when buying secondhand, the condition of the item becomes a primary consideration (along with authenticity as we discussed above). The best way to address this concern is to carefully control the type and quality of information that is provided to shoppers.
One important lesson that we learned from e-commerce is that sales increase with higher quality information. Clearer product descriptions and high-quality images and videos are vital to the success e-commerce sale. This lesson applies equally to secondhand sales. The same information that was used to sell the item the first time should be incorporated into the resale experience alongside information provided by the seller, though clearly identified as being from the brand to avoid shopper confusion. Sellers should be required to provide images of products from multiple angles and to provide clear and complete descriptions, including highlighting any defects with their items. Reviewing this information in advance of publishing the listings will help brands control the quality of the listings in their marketplaces and minimize disputes (this will also help identify counterfeits). Sellers should be coached on how to take quality photos and how to write complete and truthful descriptions. It is through these efforts that shoppers will come to trust the marketplace and make informed buying decisions.
E-commerce taught us that providing shoppers with more information helps improve sales (and reduce returns). Re-commerce can build on this teaching and enhance information contained in secondhand listings with original product information to assist shoppers in assessing the condition of the items they are purchasing.
Returns
We have been conditioned to expect free, no questions asked returns when shopping online. While this option was instrumental in increase adoption of e-commerce, it is also a huge contributor to the sustainability crisis that the fashion industry is currently facing. Nonetheless, we have come to expect returns as the means to address concerns relating to fit and buyer’s remorse. This is one area where re-commerce can learn what not to do.
Brands have an opportunity to address legitimate shopper concern without perpetuating the problems created by lax return policies. Shoppers already accept that buying secondhand is different from buying new (evidenced by the fact that few resale marketplaces offer returns), and are therefore comfortable with the idea that they will not be able to return products for subjective reasons. We have a golden opportunity to get back to the foundation of running a successful business — excellent customer service. By focusing on those situations that objectively warrant some form of remedy, we can ease shopper concern without reopening the returns floodgates.
For example, it is completely legitimate for a shopper to seek some remedy if the item he or she purchased was misrepresented by the seller, or if he or she received a different item from the one that was purchased. These concerns can be objectively measured, and in the spirit of providing excellent customer service, brands should insert themselves into the transaction to mediate an equitable resolution. The resolution of the dispute can take any number of forms, including undoing the transaction, but in the larger context, it is the process that matters. In order to ensure that all participants feel that they were treated fairly, the process must be transparent, fair, and speedy. Brands should publish their policies in advance and actively promote them to build trust and to set expectations. If shoppers know that they are protected, and sellers know that they will be treated fairly (and that bad faith dealings will not be tolerated), the marketplace can function more efficiently.
To ease shopper concerns in the early days of e-commerce, we adopted free returns, which was a mistake because it encouraged waste. To ease shopper concerns in these early days of re-commerce, we must apply principles of good customer service through a transparent and fair dispute resolution process instead.
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