Vestiaire is getting even bigger and just bought its US equivalent
Vestiaire Collective Acquires Largest Luxury Resale Competitor in the US, Tradesy
Vestiaire Collective, Europe’s leading luxury resale platform, is expanding its reach in the United States market with the acquisition of Tradesy earlier this week. In case you don’t know Tradesy is the largest peer-to-peer resale platform for pre owned luxury in the US. Combined, the platforms will have a gross merchandise value of over $1 billion.
The companies will have a combined value of $1billion
The move marks a growing trend toward mergers and acquisitions activity in fashion retail, particularly in the peer-to-peer platform and resale space. For instance in 2021, everyones favourite handmade goods and craft platform Etsy acquired UK-founded fashion resale app Depop, while the fast-growing luxury e-commerce player, Farfetch, acquired peer-to-peer platform, Luxclusif.
These fast-growing resale platforms are seeking to expand their global market-share and diversify their customer demographic to carve out their stake in a space previously dominated by the OGs (longer-term players like eBay and Alibaba.)
The acceleration of the luxury resale sector is indicative of the growing purchasing power of the younger consumer, according to research Gen-Z is more environmentally-conscious and prizes the exclusivity and peer-prestige of vintage over ‘newness’. Which goes some way to explain the success of platforms like DePop and Vestiaire.
In an attempt to take a slice of the rapidly expanding ‘resale pie’, a number of conventional luxury retailers have been developing their own second-hand offerings. Interestingly, Selfridges, Net-a-Porter, Farfetch and Liberty have all developed (or acquired) their own online or in-store spaces for luxury-resale in recent years.
Amid this consumer shift to loving resale sites, the likes of Vestiaire Collective and Tradesy are better poised to stay competitive against already dominant luxury-players if they can successfully combine forces.
As part of the deal announcement, Vestiaire Collective has said the companies will ‘retain separate brand entities for now.’ While it is likely that operations will be combined to obtain significant cost benefits from the acquisition.
Tracy DiNunzio, CEO and founder of Tradesy, will become the CEO of the combined companies’ US operations. This is a significant move for Vestiaire Collective, who has seen steady growth in the US market in recent years, with gross merchandise value in the US market ahead 75% this year.
Tracey DiNunzio will remain as CEO
DiNunzio’s planned role as CEO of both companies’ US operations indicates strong intention to keep the deal collaborative in an otherwise aggressive grab of US luxury resale-market share from Vestiaire Collective.