5 Resale Predictions for 2023

As the news slows down for the Holidays and New Year, we’d love to share our resale predictions for 2023.

?Let’s start with how the end of this year. 2022 will be the year Branded Resale became table stakes. We went from 31 to 120+ brands with dedicated resale programs. There is no going back. Brands didn’t start the shift; customers did as pioneers such as The RealReal, Poshmark, Rent the Runway, and ThredUP made it easier than ever to shop secondhand.

?Brands took it from there.? Eileen Fisher’s ‘Green Eileen’ was the first in 2009 but still positioned as philanthropic.? Patagonia x Trove launched Worn Wear in 2016 as the first branded resale program, quickly followed by Eileen Fisher x Trove and REI x Trove later that year.? ThredUP launched RaaS in 2019.? Reflaunt was founded in 2017, Recurate in 2020, Archive in 2021, and most recently Treet, all of whom make it easier than ever for brands to launch branded programs.

?The customer shift continues to make resale the fastest-growing retail channel, and the more brands with resale programs, the more customers expect brands to have resale channels. There is no going back.

?So what’s next?

?5 Predictions for 2023

1. Brands with newly launched resale programs move to build resale businesses. This requires a path to scale and profitability and will ultimately require logistics. 2023 will start to separate the headlines from the businesses moving hundreds of thousands of single SKU items to new homes.
2. Brands further integrate the customer journey more fully, realizing the power of resale and trade-in. We saw this start in 2022 with integrated carts, order history, store trade-ins, and returns, and that trend will accelerate.
3. Continued consolidation of third-party marketplaces.? There is room for a few third-party marketplaces, which are simply retailers but fewer than the number today.? We saw the start of this in 2022 with Tradsey, Poshmark, and Grailed, but there is more to come as these marketplaces work to both scale and prove long-term business viability.
4. New innovation models that mix historically different ideas such as resale, rental, and discovery.? These lines are blurring, and more companies will start to pioneer on the backs of what brands are now doing.
5. Luxury’s wake-up call. Luxury will realize it’s time to act to protect their brand from being sold in channels they can’t control.? Retail is a large marketplace, and as Amazon, Walmart, Saks Off 5th, and more start selling Gucci and Louis Vuitton, there is a risk to the luxury brands themselves–in both brand equity and authenticity.

?As always, I would love to hear from you.? Please comment on Linkedin, and send me your thoughts directly. Remember to check out the Trove Podcast, where you can hear more details and hot takes on weekly resale news.

?Have a happy and healthy new year.? It’s going to be an exciting one for resale!

Andy Ruben | Founder & Exec Chair of Trove