The secondhand market is maintaining its momentum going into the new year. Luxury resale platforms like the RealReal are seeing big sales ever since shoppers decided to cut back on high-priced designer purchases, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The online consignment retailer—which stocks thousands of items including Chanel , Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Rolex , to name a few—has recorded sales growth for three straight quarters now.
In addition, the company revealed to the newspaper that it offloads the bulk (a whopping 75 percent) of its wares within three months. The reason the platform can move inventory so quickly is because it uses technology to speed up the authentication process. More specifically, the RealReal implements machine learning and AI to determine whether a watch, for example, is actually counterfeit.
In addition, these technologies are able to write copy and accelerate the cataloging process, which was previously done by employees, and come up with real-time competitive comps for preowned pieces. “Everything is going to sell, given the sales rates on our platform, but where is the sweet spot in terms of how quickly we want something to sell and what price we can get for it?” said Ajay Gopal, the RealReal’s chief financial officer. “That’s what our algorithm is trying to solve for.
” The new developments come at a time when the luxury sector is experiencing a slowdown . The ongoing downturn can be attributed to several factors, inc.
