Most luxury resellers also buy new: McKinsey
Most (41%) of respondents notably told McKinsey that they purchased pre-owned articles for reasons of rarity (ie, they are difficult to source or have been discontinued), closely followed by 40% of individuals who answered that they participated in the resale trade because they deemed it to be “more sustainable”, and 36% contributed that they bought pre-owned for reasons of affordability.
Meanwhile, 90% of participants in the resale trade are also primary market customers of new luxury goods and 75% of these individuals stated that they would actively resell their luxury articles at a later date.
The firm added that this particular data indicated a “circular trade”, whereby luxury goods are resold to free up some wardrobe space (41% of respondents), as a result of a change in taste (36%) or linked to a desire to rid one’s closet of unseasonal or no longer trendy items (29%). A consideration for sustainability followed (28%), as did various financial reasons after that.
Further, whereas customers are “mostly” unaware of official resale relationships between luxury brands and their partners, according to McKinsey’s data, cultural differences largely impact how these partnerships are perceived when consumers are made aware.
For example, Japanese luxury clients were significantly less likely to perceive a brand as desirable and/or be willing to purchase more of a luxury brand’s products if they discovered that the brand was actively involved in the resale trade itself. This was in marked contrast to the buyers located in France and the United States who were part of McKinsey’s sample.
