How Stamp Free Can Power C2C Growth
ReCommerce or Second Life selling is currently seeing exponential growth; growing up to 20 times faster than the broader retail market. According to Cross Border Commerce Europe this is largely driven by low price and sustainability as consumers seek to mitigate the impact of inflation and look to save or make money, whether buying or selling.
ReCommerce, a relatively new term, is the selling of previously owned items through online C2C marketplaces to buyers who reuse, refurbish, recycle or resell them. At one end of the market is eBay, the first true peer-to-peer marketplace with 135 million global active buyers, 29 million in the UK alone, enabling the selling of over 2 million items globally per day.
But it’s not just eBay, at the other end of the spectrum there is also huge growth in the selling of luxury goods via sites like Vestiaire Collective but also the loaning of luxury goods from consumer to consumer through sites such as Hurr, requiring both outbound and returns as part of the customer journey.
“In 2021, the EU ReCommerce market was valued at €75B. The market is expected to grow to €120B by 2025 (+60%). Over the next five years, the reCommerce market share will grow from 10% to 14%.” – Cross Border Commerce Europe
According to Apex Insight, UK delivery company Yodel has seen a 132% increase in C2C (customer to customer) parcel volumes since July 2022. It now handles almost 600,000 C2C parcels a week. Additionally, ReCommerce company Vinted is building its own distribution network, last year launching a network of 200 Vinted Go parcel lockers in Paris. This growth is undoubtedly having an impact on carrier thinking and how they can take some of this growth and make shipping and returns easier and as frictionless as possible for sellers and buyers wishing to return items.
This is where Stamp Free can help. Stamp Free’s technology allows busy marketplace sellers to book, pay for and send parcels all from a smartphone. Customers simply pay for a parcel delivery, write the unique Stamp Free Code on the item with the address, scan to validate and drop off at a usual PUDO. All the data is validated at source, before the item is shipped. No printer, no queuing. Simple and convenient sending of up to 50 parcels at a time and all items can be tracked through the app.
And it’s not just parcels. Returns can be handled in exactly the same way; you click to return via the retailer or carrier app, you get given a unique eight-digit Stamp Free Code, you write that on your item, you then scan it with the same mobile device and simply drop off at a PUDO for a seamless, simple and secure returns process.
Stamp Free’s award-winning technology offers carriers a simple and innovative solution to give to their customers. And we know from our own research that 97% of customers would rather send parcels and manage returns with their smartphone than grapple with labels and the plethora of ways labels are managed. Our solution enables carriers to give customers what they want – a label free shipping experience.
And it couldn’t be simpler for carriers to integrate. Our simple APIs enable Stamp Free Codes to be read in the same way, speed and accuracy as barcodes and QR codes with existing technology. And whilst Stamp Free Codes can be read from end to end throughout the entire journey, parcels can also be over-labelled at any time, making it label free for the customer who wants it, but frictionless with existing operations for carriers.
Talk to us today about how we can help you make the most of ReCommerce growth and provide customers with the solutions that they are looking for.
