DEEP DIVE: Fashion Re-Commerce Evolution

Executive Summary

• The marketplace for online fashion resale continues to evolve rapidly. Following an initial wave of online fashion consignment startups, weaker players have gone out of business and stronger players have grown and attracted more investment funding to propel their further growth.
• However, there is likely to be room for only one or two players in each subsector of the apparel resale market, as fashion “re-commerce” websites will have to compete fiercely for both inventory and customers.
• The digital secondhand apparel sector will likely continue to grow, boosted by global expansion, increased seasonal inventory supply and demand, millennial penetration, brand momentum in the full-price retail channel and the investment nature of certain luxury products.
• We have also seen the emergence of platforms targeting niche product markets such as sneaker resales and social media peer-to-peer resale apps such as Depop that target specific demographic groups.