We’re excited to announce that our circularity platform now supports trade-in! A huge thank you to our amazing engineering team and to our customers for their guidance and insights. Let’s take a deeper dive into how trade-in programs work, and how we made them accessible to brands of all sizes.

How trade-in programs work

Trade-in programs allow customers to send their pre-loved clothes to the brand in exchange for gift cards of a pre-determined value. Customers use their gift cards to buy new clothes from the brand, and the brand usually resells, donates, or recycles the clothes it receives. That’s pretty much it.

Why trade-in programs make sense

Trade-in programs make sense for a number of reasons. First, they give customers a sustainable option for dealing with clothes they no longer want. Trade-in guarantee that customers earn some money from their clothes regardless of their condition, which is particularly compelling for customers who don’t want to go through the effort of reselling their clothes themselves.

Second, trade-in programs have been shown to increase brand loyalty by 19%! It turns out that customers like having control over their belongings, including what to do with them when they no longer want them. It follows, then, that the more options brands offer for dealing with unwanted clothes, the stronger the bond they build with their customers.

Finally, trade-in programs create two new revenue streams for brands. First, customers are likely to overspend the gift cards they earn for their clothes, which means upsell revenue. Second, the brand will be able to resell many of the items that are traded-in for more than the value of the gift card that it issued for them.

How we make trade-in programs easy

Early trade-in programs struggled to scale because they were managed manually. Every step – from customers submitting requests for shipping lables to the brand issuing gift cards - was done manually (usually in spreadsheets). This resulted in lack of visibility, out of sync systems, frustrated customers, and overwhelmed employees. We designed our solution to solve all of these problems.

Quick to set up

Our circularity platform handles every aspect of the trade-in program, including hosting the portal and managing processing rules. This means that fewer people need to be involved to launch the program. As a result, we can launch a branded trade-in program that is consistent with the brand’s messaging in days rather than weeks.

Simple for customers

We also made it simple for customers to submit their trade-ins. Customers simply log into the trade-in portal, select the items they want to trade-in from their purchase history or from the brand’s catalog (which we get thanks to our Shopify app), and submit. Immediately, the customer receives a confirmation email containing a pre-paid shipping label. We even offer 100% carbon-neutral shipping through our partnership with EasyPost.

Efficient for staff

The workflow for processing submissions is equally simple. Every trade-in appears in the queue, which makes it easy for staff to keep track of what needs to happen next. At the end of the review, the final trade-in value is calculated automatically to avoid error, and the gift card is issued to the customer through Shopify. The entire process takes less than a minute!

Better visibility

By consolidating the trade-in program into one system, we can present insights about every aspect of the trade-in program, including submission and processing volumes, program costs, and final dispositions of every processed item. Trade-in histories are even presented in customer profiles to help address customer support questions.

Pay for only what you use

Making trade-ins accessible to any brand doesn’t just mean building an intuitive and useful platform. It also means making that platform available at price that any brand can afford. That’s why we charge a transaction fee instead of a subscription fee. Using our platform means paying for only what you use. And through January 31, 2024, we’re even waiving our on-boarding fees for attending a demo!

Interested in learning more?

Please contact us to learn more about our trade-in solution and the other capabilities of our circularity platform. If you’re interested in a deeper dive into our circularity platform, please request a demo.