The second-hand market is breathing life into new ways of doing business…
Seen in Los Angeles and Sydney
In the ultra-hip Atwater district of Los Angeles, Redress, a new second-hand store aimed at the public at large, recently launched “Rent-a-rack”, allowing customers to rent clothing racks, as the name suggests. The concept is new in the United States, but has been up and running in Northern Europe for the past decade. Individuals can sell up to fifty items of their choice, as long as they are in good condition and ironed, for a fee of $99 a week, added to the 15% commission the store charges on sales. Bookings are made online and customers are free to set their own prices, share their rack with a friend and post an ad on social media. Retailer Venla offers the same facility in Sydney.
What to think of it?
With consumers showing an increasing preference for second-hand fashion, this is a market that is gradually being structured to best meet their expectations. After specialist retailers (children, luxury, accessories, etc.) and brands that have put systems in place to enable their own clothes to be returned, Redress is now developing an innovative hybrid model based on the rental of clothing racks. The term “hybrid” refers to the fact that the company sells but does not select the products it offers, that its customers are individuals who want to rent a rack but are also looking to buy an item, and that the appeal of the store stems more from its location in a bustling area of the city, than from its architectural qualities, which are not dissimilar to those of a warehouse. In this store, those who rent a rack are almost viewed as an independent brand whose offering reflects their lifestyle and values. In this way, the shop acts as a showroom for its customers and they become stakeholders in the outlet. More proof that changing the way people make purchases can change the way products are sold.
Summing up
From 17 January, Carrefour will no longer be delivering its paper catalogues to people’s letterboxes in Lyon and Paris. Customers will be able to find the retailer’s promotional offers via digital media. Carrefour is the largest producer of catalogues in France with 900 million copies circulated each year.
Summing up
In Arkansas, USA, Wal-Mart has become the first mass retailer to use self-driving trucks without a human at the wheel.
Summing up
Decathlon now displays the carbon score of all its own-brand textile and footwear products. This score is calculated based on the product’s entire life cycle (material, production, transport, end of life) and is accompanied by educational information to help customers visualise its impact.
Catching the eye
The fourth wave of the Ifop/Boulanger survey on connected devices confirms that the focus is shifting from “performance” to “quality of life”. Thus, among the characteristics people look for in a connected device, time savings continue to decline in importance, as they had last year (16% mention this criterion, -4 points vs. 2020), while improving comfort in the household is up (10%, +4 points). Of all the connected devices people have tried, the Smart TV (or connected TV) is reported as being the one that has made the biggest difference to the day-to-day lives of French consumers, followed by the voice assistant.
Online survey conducted on 26-27 October 2021, on a sample of 1,001 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over.
