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Hello {{first_name | there}} ,

It’s time for the next part of my “post expo talk” takeaways…

At eCommerce Expo this year I delivered a talk titled “3 Ways to Monetise Returns and Second Hand” - and I want to share the key messages from it with you over a few of our newsletters between now and Christmas.

Last time I asked “Why do second hand?”, and now I’m going to explain why your second hand program needs to be a strategic match to a day time TV show…

A good second-hand product scheme operates on the same principles as a successful developer on Homes under the Hammer.

There are 3 things you have to get right:

Get any of that wrong and your second-hand program will struggle and potentially fail. It certainly won't deliver the brand, financial, or sustainability objectives you're aiming for.

There are myriad models for doing each of these 3 stages successfully, which you choose depends on your objectives and goals.

If you're a luxury brand looking to leverage second-hand to connect with a customer base who can't (yet) afford full price, then the quality of the bought-back product is critical; the processing needs to add in some brand flair - new packaging? Fully cleaned and refurbished?, and you want to control the resale.

If you want to use second-hand buy-back to improve customer lifetime value (yes, really more on that in another update) but you don't want to sell second-hand on your site, then you might choose to completely outsource everything but the marketing of the buy-back scheme to a third party like Reskinned.

Over the next 3 updates, I'll be sharing my take on your options for each of these elements.

But first, a word on peer-to-peer.

When you consider all this, then you might think that you can just add a peer-to-peer marketplace to your own website. Where customers can list their old items (just like they would on Vinted) and sell to each other, with you taking a commission.

I get it solves a ton of the ops headaches, but it creates a customer service and brand reputation headache. Imagine one of your best customers using the marketplace on your website to buy some products, but the person they're buying from is a rogue - your brand reputation is severely damaged by a transaction you enabled but have no control over. I'm not a fan of this model.

If you missed the first of these updates, last week I published it on LInkedIn, and got a LOT of helpful advice in the comments - have a read of my Returns thoughts here

Keep Optimising!

Chloe

Podcast Host, Author, and now... Chief Success Strategist @ Emetko Media

We want to learn a bit more about you and your eCommerce world - so welcome to our brand new “Poll time” section of the newsletter - just click to vote.

Not only is Tarek the co-founder of SCAYLE, but he’s also the co-founder of online fashion store ABOUT YOU (think ASOS in Europe).

So obviously this is a super insightful dive into what AI is really doing to our industry. Packed with ideas and insights.

Enjoy!

Find the show on all the top podcast players including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

You can also find the notes and listen on the website, just click here for this week's new episode.

98% of fashion leaders say their eCommerce technology limits their ability to respond quickly to trends. And 76% have lost revenue opportunities because of it.

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Meet this week’s newsletter sponsor

This one is Chloe's book that's most focused on CRO and customer journey.

Full of customer behaviour fundamentals, it's well worth a read.

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Can you succeed with Google Ads alone?

Well, no.

So that’s what we’re getting into with Silvia in our final Google Ads episode - how can you layer on other channels to build a full funnel approach, in the process improving your Google Ads performance.

A great way to round off the series.

Find the show on all the top podcast players including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

You can also find the notes and listen on the website.

Phil Draper is the CEO at Manago AI an AI-powered Customer Engagement Platform for modern marketer, which means he’s deeply involved in working out how AI can best support eCommerce brands to do more powerful marketing.

In this episode, Phil and Chloe explore how agentic AI can help eCommerce teams implement more of their marketing strategy, analyse data faster, and uncover new opportunities for growth. They also discuss what separates the businesses getting real value from AI from those still using it for basic tasks.

Watch to hear: