ComCap’s perspectives on The Rise of Recommerce Marketplaces September 2022

We are pleased to present the key themes on the recommence marketplace landscape, doing so with the aim of helping increase transparency and communication between the companies themselves, as well as financial and strategic investors.

As an industry participant, we have covered the rise of recommerce marketplaces as they are capturing a significant share of US consumer spending and the trend is expected to continue over the next several years.

The market is growing much faster in comparison with sustainable fashion. This is a direct result of the emergence of new online platforms that are easy to use, the emergence of C2C models, and the difference in environmental impact between buying a new piece of clothing or a used one. The consumer of the future will rent, own, and purchase with the goal to re-sell. We see this trend across the market, especially with the speciality item resale market

The Recommerce market is experiencing burgeoning growth. The recommerce merchants are 20 times faster than the broad retail market and 5 times faster than off-price retailers. Global secondhand is expected to grow 3X faster than the global apparel market. The US secondhand market is expected to reach $82bn by 2026

Other key points covered in the report include:

  1. Secondhand is becoming a global phenomenon: Secondhand market is expected to grow 127% by 2026. The global secondhand apparel market will grow 3X faster than the global apparel market overall with the highest growth expected to happen in 2022 at 24%. North America is leading the global secondhand apparel market growth
  2. Resale is a strategic priority for retailers: Retailers are adopting various strategies like omnichannel dynamic personalization, and customization to increase their customer base. Resale is becoming one of the key priorities as 46% of GenZ and Millenials are thinking about resale value of an apparel item before purchasing
  3. Rising inflation and social pressure fuel the demand for secondhand items: Rising inflation squeezes the consumer spending on apparel as 44%* consumers say that they are reducing expenditure on apparels.1 in 5* fast fashion shoppers feel pressured to have the latest styles according to the social media
  4. Home category is the fastest growing recommerce category. In 2020, most people were spending time at home, and this resulted in recommerce for home furnishings and home improvement growing faster than earlier. The industry is expected to be valued at $23.6bn by 2025
  5. Millennials’ adoption of the sharing economy and access goods at a discount: Young consumers that are entering their prime earning potentials are favouring the concept of sharing over owning. Bargain shoppers have the desire to get used products from trusted online stores