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Global ecommerce marketplace insights
It’s fair to say, ecommerce growth has been pretty epic since 2019.McKinsey stated that the US experienced 10 years’ growth in just 30 days! There are two fashion ecommerce sub-trends we cover in this episode: ecommerce marketplaces and luxury pre-owned shopping.
Why is this relevant? Linnworks consumer research found that nine out of 10 shoppers regularly started product searches on marketplaces (in markets like China marketplaces dominate), while figures from Mirakl show marketplaces grew 80% in the final quarter of 2020, twice the growth rate of other ecommerce channels.
The secondhand, or pre-owned, market has been growing for several years, as the trend for circular economy and a drive for sustainability through waste reduction took hold. The pandemic has simply accelerated ecommerce demand for this type of product.
For our 94th episode, we’re chewing the fat on the pre-owned luxury ecommerce marketplace scene with the CEO of OpenforVintage.com, Colin Saunders. Colin has a strong background in international commerce and since 2015 has been busy building and scaling a global marketplace for pre-owned fashion goods and accessories. Colin shares key lessons learned and discusses the challenges of global operations for a large and complex catalogue.
Key Discussion Points
- Why a vintage marketplace – what brought you to this model and what were the market trends that encouraged you?
- The site is built on nopcommerce – what made you choose this platform vs. a marketplace specialist like Mirakl/Spryker?
- How do you quality control listings to protect your brand and the quality of UX & how much is automated vs. manually curated?
- You have lots of currency options for international but non-localised sites – are you intending to localise content for key markets like China and US?
- International shipping is a challenge; what made you go down the route of customs inclusive pricing?
- What did you learn from setting it up i.e. what issues and how to overcome them?
- You’ve got Klarna on the site, so what impact has BNPL had on conversion & growth?
- There has clearly been a steep learning curve: what have been the biggest surprises and what did you learn from them?