Can Fashion Resale Ever Be a Profitable Business?

California e-tailer Revolve did $499 million in sales last year but spent $531 million on returns, after accounting for processing costs and lost sales. The number does not account for the retailer also covering the shipping costs of returns. Revolve declined to comment on whether it’s working to resolve this discrepancy.

1. The secondary market is the primary market: Brands that were once reluctant to even acknowledge the consignment of their products, happily leaving resale to the likes of The RealReal and Vestiaire Collective, might take a cue from NFT projects that facilitate trades within their own Discord community and begin to embrace being an authorized deal... See more

Just as most retailers came to the realization that being online or offline was no longer an and-or proposition, the same appears to be happening with retail resale and rental.

According to Vogue Business, eCommerce return rates have spiked 95% in the past five years. On average, this means that retailers lose a third of their revenue to returns, says RSR Research retail analyst Paula Rosenblum. This loss is much more significant in the online world, where trying on the products is impossible. Social pressure in-store als... See more

Multi-brand stores no longer serve the purpose that they once did. Why do we need them now?