Trove cut its teeth providing platforms for brands to host their secondhand shops. Now, it’s walking that idea back a little by way of a resale plugin.
The branded resale and trade-in commerce partner claims the fast-to-launch solution is a first-of-its-kind tool that “seamlessly integrates” pre-owned items onto existing e-commerce platforms with “as little as one line of code.”
“The Resale Plugin enhances the shopping experience by seamlessly pairing pre-owned and new items within a single, streamlined e-commerce platform,” said Terry Boyle, Trove’s CEO. “This quick-to-implement tool offers brands flexibility in how they display inventory.”
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The plugin—which cuts across major e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Salesforce—lets brands embed pre-owned items on product-detail pages, landing pages, or wherever a brand may want to showcase secondhand options. In doing so, brands can “choose to show exact matches, similar options or past-season stock,” per Boyle, which ultimately lets brands “start at their preferred level” or “A/B test their way into their position on resale.”
The B Corp is bringing the plugin—which can be deployed in two weeks with minimal technical resources—to life with Patagonia.
“Patagonia is a unique partner who has a very clear vision; we’re fortunate to be their partner in resale and there’s no question that we kind of developed [this] roadmap together as they have an end-goal in mind and we very much want to support that,” Boyle said. “We also think Patagonia is ahead of the curve and that, when we do this, a lot of other brands will be interested as well.”
The brand behind “The Shitthroprocene” is a long-standing partner of—and early investor in—Trove, having taken its holistic circularity program Worn Wear to the white label platform in 2017.
“The Resale Plugin represents a significant step forward for Worn Wear, highlighting used products on our main website and bringing resale closer to the center of our business,” said Sam Brown, Patagonia’s head of resale. “Through Worn Wear, it’s our goal to provide customers with lower-impact choices, underpinned by the same level of quality and service customers expect when shopping for new Patagonia products—we believe this is achieved by the plugin and a more cohesive shopping experience between new and used.”
This news follows Trove’s summer acquisition of competitor Recurate, which resulted in Trove overseeing 75 percent-plus of the total branded resale traffic in the U.S. among the relevant, omni-channel-solution-providing players.
“In today’s economic climate, where consumers are shopping more thoughtfully, the Resale Plugin helps brand attract new customers and increase loyalty,” Boyle said. “It’s an ideal time for brands to integrate resale into their e-commerce strategy.”
Not to mention, the economics of the plugin, per Boyle, are great. “It attracts a new customer, increases site conversion and underscores to demographics that they care about the environment,” he said. Plus, there’s nothing wrong with a little trial and error.
“This is another one of the tools in our toolkit to help people build the programs they want to build. You can A/B test—there are people concerned about the impact of what you show customers and how it impacts resale versus new—but you can test your way in; this is built to be kind of a testing platform,” Boyle said. “That’s exciting because for the first time, we can actually say, here are the quantifiable outcomes.”
