Secondhand Status
What if buying pre-loved goods became a sign of savviness and source of pride?
Buying, wearing, and selling secondhand products is becoming a source of social status, rather than something to be hidden for fear of the social stigma of not being able to afford new items.
The Trend
What Secondhand Status Means
Buying used has shed its stigma and become a signal of taste, thrift and environmental awareness, and resale platforms let sellers show off their own entrepreneurialism on top of it. Depop hosts nearly two million micro-entrepreneurs, 90 percent of them under 25, and its first seller to hit a million pounds in sales was 24 years old. In the future normal, a growing share of consumers will see buying new as inefficient, the way some people already view buying a new car.
The Instigator
Reflaunt
A Singapore-based Resale-as-a-Service platform that lets luxury brands run resale for their own customers. Starting in late 2021, Net-a-Porter customers could drop items at collection points or request a home pickup, after which Reflaunt values, photographs, describes and lists them across its network of resale marketplaces. Its pricing algorithm pays out store credit before the item even sells, and Balenciaga and GANNI use the platform too.
Imagining The Future Normal
3 Questions To Ask
About Secondhand Status
- 1
What if technology could increase confidence in shopping for secondhand items?
Virtual try-ons are becoming commonplace online, but what if these tools could generate hyperrealistic visualizations of how used clothing would look on your body or how pre-owned furniture items would fit in your home? These AI-powered tools could drive purchases by allowing shoppers to “experience” secondhand items virtually before purchasing.
- 2
What if we could automate the authentication process?
Right now, it is a costly task for resale platforms to verify the authenticity of high-end items. But if AI can verify authenticity more reliably than human experts (or make it exponentially easier and quicker for experts to verify items), it will be possible to increase trust across a far wider spectrum of items and remove a major barrier to buying secondhand.
- 3
What if real-time value estimation makes ownership more “liquid”?
Imagine if you could view the potential secondand third-life resale value of any item. Or a tool that could proactively estimate the value of items you already own and suggest which items to keep, sell immediately, or hold for maximum future value. In this future, people may begin treating all types of possessions as “liquid” financial assets.
