UK-based fashion brand Oh Polly is adding a c-to-c secondhand section to its ecommerce site enabling customers in its home market to resell clothes they bought previously from the brand. It hopes to engage customers in Oh Polly Pre-Loved by giving sellers 110% of the value of items sold as credit against new purchases while counteracting the sale of its occasionwear, swimwear and athleisure clothing on resale marketplaces such as Depop and Vinted.
Once logged-in to the website, customers can view a list of past purchases and select the item to be sold. Alternatively, they can search manually for the garment. The next step is to upload a series of photographs, including front and back view, any worn areas or optional close-ups, the brand tag and, if unworn and new, an image of the hang tag showing the barcode or price.
The item’s price is set by the seller who can choose whether to drop the price by 10% each week automatically.
All listings are moderated by white label resale company Treet. It aims to look at listings within 24 hours approximately, including checking descriptions against the uploaded photographs to verify an item matches its good or excellent condition, is listed correctly i.e. as new with tags, has an authentic Oh Polly label and matches the SKU under which it is listed. Customer service is handled by Treet, while sellers arrange delivery of their sold items.
“We launched the platform in just four weeks from signing, and within the first eight hours of soft launch, we had 105 sign-ups and 64 listings,” the brand said on LinkedIn.
The move is not Oh Polly’s first foray into recommerce. It celebrated its first decade in business by opening an eBay store. The company, which launched its business on eBay originally is using the store as an additional channel for its outlet stock which also sells via is main e-commerce site.
In 2021, Oh Polly launched an online clothing bank so that customers could donate their older, unworn clothing to The Salvation Army charity.
Since 2014, the brand has expanded to 300 employees, a worldwide customer base and more than five million followers on social media.
In May 2024, Treet raised $10 million U.S. in series A funding.
