Online marketplace Zalando has expanded its pre-owned fashion platform, Zircle, into Sweden and Denmark.
More than 100,000 fashion items from recognisable brands are now available to all Zalando customers in these two Nordic markets.
It comes after a 2020 study from Zalando found that half of its existing Swedish and Danish customers would consider buying pre-owned fashion in the six months ahead.
Zircle was launched in Zalando’s home market, Germany, in 2019, and it has since been integrated to the ‘Pre-Owned’ category on the Zalando fashion platform in Spain, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Poland. It’s not yet available in the UK.
Each article on the platform has previously been owned by Zalando customers in markets where a trade-in function is available, and has been assessed via digital photos uploaded by the customer. It also undergoes a secondary check once the company has received the physical product.
Zalando said that it is using plastic-free packaging for all Zircle orders, replacing it with recycled paper instead.
Mareike Hummel, director of user experience for recommerce at Zalando, commented: “Over the past two years since launching Zircle in Germany and expanding across Europe, we have gathered many learnings that helped improve the customer experience when shopping on Zircle.”
Laura Coppen, head of circularity at Zalando, added: “Zircle will support our target of extending the life of 50 million fashion items by 2023 by enabling our customers to give them a new life quickly and effortlessly.”
A growing number of retailers and brands are starting to deploy their own resale platforms for pre-owned fashion, or they have developed partnerships with companies that specialise in this space.
Last week, Alexander McQueen announced a buy back and resale partnership with online luxury fashion marketplace, Vestiaire Collective. It said it would contact its clients to see if they wish to sell any of their previously purchased items, rewarding them with credit to buy new lines on its website if they returned items for resale on Vestiaire’s platform.
