Selling Your Company’s Second Hand Products

IMARC Group, an industry reporting website, reports that global secondhand luxury goods market size is US$ 28.3 billion in 2021. They expect the market to reach US$ 47.1 Billion by 2027.

Global News Wire, another industry reporting website reports that the global secondhand luxury goods market is US$ 32.61 billion in 2021. They expect the market to reach US$ 51.77 billion by 2027.

Although there is a big disparity in the financial figures of the above two industry reporting website, one thing is clear: The secondhand luxury goods market would likely be worth US$ 50 billion by 2027.

This just means that secondhand has become not only in vogue but has also become upscale and fashionable. The social stigma of buying and using second handluxury goods is now disappearing or has already completely disappeared.

Here are a few YouTube videos about how secondhand luxury goods could be a better business than a luxury goods business that sells only brand new luxury goods. In a sense, the era of big business flea markets have arrived.

“Inside the Massive Second-Hand Fashion Market | The Business of Fashion Show”: This an almost half an hour video but is highly recommended as it reports on both high end luxury goods as well as high end street wear.

Audi to bring its pre-owned car business to India: This is just a short video. But it proves that many car companies themselves are selling their own pre-owned cars not only locally, but also internationally.

Business Jets for Sale | How to Purchase your First Preowned Business Jet: This short video just proves just how many high priced items are being sold today. In this case, jet planes.

Certified by Bentley | Bentley Pre-Owned | Bentley: This video just proves how even the most upscale luxury brand companies are embracing the second hand business. In this case, Bentley.

When I bought my brand new car, I didn’t buy the current year’s model. I bought last year’s model which was still in all respects brand new. This is because I saw a big price disparity between a current years model versus the last year’s model.

But when I inspected both cars, there was hardly anything different between the two of them except for a few superficial ones. Even my friends didn’t notice that it was last year’s model. All of them thought it was the current year’s model.

This just shows how much profit businesses, in these case, car companies are making off their brand new products. This must be the same reason why fashion companies keep turning out new products every year.

The fast fashion industry alone produces more than 120 billion worth of items on an annual basis. And in case you don’t know, fast fashion is one of the biggest source of garbage today. Many poor and developing countries are being flooded with disposed fast fashion items.

This is the reason why low cost second hand cloth shops have popped up almost everywhere. Second hand clothes are so cheap and are even being given away for free because it is so affordable to buy new ones on a regular basis.

I realized this problem a long time ago. Clothes have become so cheap that they’ve become basically disposable items. My closet is proof of this. I have a few dozen clothes which I have not worn for years but are still basically new.

This is why I resolved to be very picky with the clothes I buy and only buy a few of them if I ever do. I also resolved to buy only a few high priced luxury clothes instead of buying a dozen cheap clothes for the same price.

This is because I’ve learned that second hand luxury clothes can still be sold second hand while fast fashion or unbranded clothes are basically being given away for free after a while. It seems that luxury clothes retain a bit of their value and even appreciate at times.

None is more evident than this than in an old concert t-shirt which I own decades ago. It was a hand me down and a bit worn down. But when I looked at its price a couple of years ago, it was selling at more than US$ 100. It has actually appreciated in value.

It seems that although there are third party businesses that sell second hand luxury fashion items, the actual luxury fashion companies who own these products have still to embrace this business strategy.

Of course, at least for the fashion industry, these luxury fashion companies fear that selling their second hand products would cannibalize sales of their new products which is their biggest moneymaker.

However, it seems that automobile companies have embraced the business strategy. I have seen Toyota, Audi and Bentley doing it aggressively and maybe some other car companies out there.

In essence, they are taking away the customers of third party second hand car selling companies who by reputation are offering inferior products both in terms of car reliability and roadworthiness.

Integrating a second hand business strategy in your business is easy. You could just contact existing customers who may want to sell the products they bought from you and offer to resell and even refurbish them in exchange for a commission.

There are companies who rebrand their old products as Vintage. Back when I was young, denim jeans were all the rage. And numerous denim jean companies grew rich because of the craze.

Of course the biggest company was Levis and in part the company is still well known as the de facto brand in terms of denim jeans. I still remember when the company resold old style denim jeans just like 501’s, riveted and bell bottomed.

Imagine the other denim companies and shops with old inventories selling their old stocks of identical type denim jeans. This could also happen in other industries and not only in high fashion clothing or automobiles.

How about old furnitures? The biggest furniture company, IKEA, is doing this exactly. The company buys second hand and completely assembled furniture (their own brand of course) and resells them.

In the field of laptops, there’s MicroSoft who also buys old laptops. I think what happens is that their customers trade-in their old laptops for new ones. The refurbished old laptops are then offered for sale by MicroSoft.

I think one company that have really embraced this business strategy in none other than the super big and profitable company that is Apple. Apple knows the value of retaining a customer for life.

In fact, Apple customers are one of the most devoted customers in the world. Apple already has a lot of detractors who claim that their technology is not the best and that their prices are way too expensive.

But in spite of this, Apple sales continue to grow year in year out that they are now one of the biggest and most profitable companies in the world. Apple knows that keeping their loyal customers loyal is a paramount concern for the continued success of their business.

So they entice loyal customers to upgrade every year by a trade-in business strategy. This allows them to also target Apple fans who may not be able to afford their priciest and most newest products.

They sell refurbished Apple products to these Apple fans who they know would become more financially sound soon that they would be able to buy new Apple products. Its like Apple is investing for the future.

From luxury fashion, automobiles, expensive street clothes, furniture, electronics and so on, a lot of companies have already implemented a second hand product selling business strategy. If you haven’t done so, it might just be the time to give it a thought.

Not only can you attract new business by doing this which translates to more profit, but it would also help you retain your existing customers via a trade-in program. This is a truly win-win situation for your business.

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