Online fashion giant Zalando is extending its pre-owned offerings by teaming up with the France-based second-hand luxury e-tailer Vestiaire Collective.
From Thursday, shoppers in 14 European markets who already have access to Zalando’s secondhand clothing and accessories platform will also be able to select from a collection of a few thousand items from more then 50 brands.
The service will be rolled out to Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden.
Zalando already provides all kinds of services to other retailers and brands, from logistics to marketing and customer data, but this is the first time that the Berlin-based e-commerce platform, which has around 62 million active users, is opening up its pre-owned category to a partner.
“Our pre-owned assortment is very successful on Zalando and it sells out pretty fast,” says Alice Marshall, director of pre-owned at Zalando. “On average we sell about 60 percent of the [secondhand] items that are put online within the first seven days.”
That is often even faster for premium items, she told WWD. “So we know that our customers are interested in designer items. That’s why I think it’s a win-win situation for both Zalando and Vestiaire and ultimately for our customers.”
Vestiaire Collective made its name by offering what is known as peer-to-peer sales of premium and luxury brands — that is, a private individual who owns a Chanel handbag could sell it directly to another private individual, with Vestiaire Collective providing a platform for the sale and verifying that the branded item was genuine.
The new partnership with Zalando won’t work exactly like that though, Thomas Hezard, chief product officer at Vestiaire Collective, explained.
“What we have decided to do is to leverage our own inventory,” he told WWD. This means the collection available is smaller, totalling around 2,000 items, but of higher average quality. It includes ready-to-wear, footwear, handbags and accessories
On the plus side, this means that fans of pre-owned luxury benefit from all of Zalando’s usual services, like fast delivery and a 30-day return period, with the latter a particular bonus for anybody who ever hesitated about buying peer-to-peer because they couldn’t return the item to a private seller. (Instead Vestiaire would list it again for free.) This removes that concern: Should an item be returned, it would then be re-authenticated by Vestiaire Collective.
Zalando itself would make money from each sale, using their commission system.
But could regular users of Vestiaire Collective be underwhelmed by the Zalando partnership? After all, the French platform has millions of listings, over 1,000 brands and adds tens of thousands of new items daily.
Marshall doesn’t think they will be. “I think what we really wanted to do with this partnership was explore with Zalando’s customers,” she said.
Zalando knows there is demand for secondhand and believes there will be demand for authenticated pre-used luxury, Marshall continues. But the question is, how would that demand change if customers can shop in the more convenient and speedy way that they’re used to with Zalando?
“This is quite a different experience [from peer-to-peer] and something that we believe that our customers will be very interested in,” she argues. “It’s a unique opportunity to push the boundaries of secondhand.”
Hezard agrees. “I do believe it’s an opportunity to push adoption of secondhand. You know, there are some customers that are begging for secondhand already but some others are only buying firsthand, and it’s an opportunity to convince them to try secondhand.”
The partnership “reflects a shared ambition to make circular luxury more visible, more relevant, and more appealing to a wider and younger audience,” Hezard said.
