The challenge
- Increasing our capacity to build up inventory
- Recruiting sellers who are reluctant to go digital
- Increase store visits and upsell through innovative digital marketing strategies
The solution
- Very rapid deployment of the service thanks to the seller module
- Sales force training
- Dashboard for operational and business management
The results
- 130% increase in trade-in numbers in the first 15 days
- 600 more sellers recruited vs. 2023
- Increased traffic in pilot shops
- An additional service that strengthens the ba&sh brand image and customer loyalty
The Challenge:
In 2022, the brand founded by Barbara Boccara and Shanon Krief in 2004 called on FAUME's expertise to launch its own second-hand service. Based on the observation that one in five digital purchases is a second-hand purchase, ba&sh has set itself the goal of encouraging this new mode of consumption: a more ethical solution that helps to limit the environmental impact of textiles.
The seconde-main.ba-sh.com website was launched on the French market online and via a pop-up in the ba&sh boutique on rue de Charonne in Paris. It was an immediate success, with more than 10,000 items taken back and resold in three months, and a second pop-up organised to raise the profile of the offer and test the service in store. But the very high monthly sell-through rates on the website soon showed that the offer was not sufficient to satisfy demand. Increasing trade-in capacity quickly became a priority.
Increasing trade-in capacity
The success of a second-hand service depends on its ability to stock a diverse range of clothing that is attractive to consumers. In the first year, the stock sell-through rate was 116%, so new ways of collecting clothes had to be found to sustain demand on the site. Extending the service to the ba&sh retail network in Europe is a priority for the brand.
Recruiting "sellers" who are reluctant to go digital
In the first year of the service, almost 3,000 ba&sh customers used the brand's trade-in service in France. Some ba&sh customers were therefore reluctant to use the digital service and were waiting for the opportunity to come into their shop to sell their clothes. Activating the in-store collection channel is a strategic way of recruiting new users of the second-hand resale service, and therefore increasing the volume of returns.
The Solution:
The garment collection tool developed by FAUME specifically for retail deployment enabled ba&sh to open its service in one day in 15 pilot shops in France and then internationally.
An agile solution
FAUME has developed a technological trade-in tool specifically for its retail customers. The trade-in module enables the sales consultant to find a customer's item by means of the item reference on its label, with a price automatically quoted according to color, size and condition. This tool is also adapted to a slightly different value proposition to that of online collection: customers who visit the shop can generate a voucher immediately and use it on the spot (instead of waiting for the item to be checked in the workshops in the case of online collection).
The technology of this trade-in module means that the tool can be deployed without the need for technical integration with cash register software. In just a few hours, a retail team is ready to offer the collection service to its customers, thanks to the rapid opening of the tool, its ease of use, and the online training provided by FAUME. As a result, 15 ba&sh shops across France received training and were able to offer the service to their customers straight away.
Training provided by FAUME
The effectiveness of the in-store rade-in service also depends on the training that FAUME provides to the brand’s retail teams. Since this is a new service for brands, customer relations can be a source of concern for teams in direct contact with users of the service. With around twenty brands offering the collection service in 250+ shops in Europe, FAUME provides exhaustive training including the key elements of the sales pitch that will enable sales staff to use the service while guaranteeing customer satisfaction in shop.
Dashboard and operational management of the business
To measure the performance of the in-store service and the achievement of the targets ba&sh has set itself (doubling the number of returns in a month), FAUME also provides a business management dashboard. This tool allows both project and retail teams to monitor the volumes of customer appointments, trade-ins per store, per seller and per sales consultant in each store.
The Result:
Target exceeded
In one month, the number of trade-ins increased by 130% compared with the previous month. Shops accounted for 45% of total trade-ins, but the communication surrounding the launch of the new service also had an effect on the volume of online trade-ins, which rose by 30% in the first month after the launch.
After 2 months, the total volume of trade-ins increased by 226%, doubling the number of items placed online on the second-hand site over the same period: the offer was sufficiently renewed to launch acquisition campaigns and boost sales growth.
A way of recruiting new 'sellers’
In 3 months, almost 600 ba&sh customers used the trade-in service for the first time by visiting the shop and selling 1/3 of the total trade-ins for the period. These customers had never used the online trade-in service before. To date, 12% of second-hand "sellers" use the service exclusively in-store.
Increased In store traffic and upsell
The opening of the trade-in service in some ba&sh shops in France and Belgium has had an additional benefit: increased traffic in the shops and the upsell associated with the trade-in. When a customer brings her item into the shop, she receives an immediate voucher - in 75% of cases, the customer uses it immediately in the shop on the new collection. 3 months after the launch of the service, it is generating around 50 more visits to the shops per month, and has boosted the upsell rate from 49% to 81% in store.
The success of the new service, both operationally and commercially, has prompted ba&sh to open the service in all its own shops throughout France by the end of 2024, as well as opening the service in other countries where the second-hand business is present: Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. Boutique repossession is a fast-track method of scaling up: it enables a large number of trade-ins to be carried out on a permanent basis, at a lower cost to the brand, thereby boosting the profitability of the business and reinforcing the brand image through an additional, circular service.