Circular retail platform, CircularX, has won the Retail Technology Show Innovation Award for 2023.
The Paris-based company provides the software capabilities to power second-hand and pre-loved commerce. It is the second consecutive year a green-thinking or environmentally-focused tech company has won the prize, following the success of Dayrize in 2022.
CircularX is a software-as-a-service platform that empowers both retailers and brands to design and launch second-hand and pre-loved retail offers across multiple channels, supporting the industry movement towards more circular models. The company offers a white label-style tech set-up, meaning businesses can run their pre-loved operations under their own branding.
Through the platform, retailers can run buy-back, refurbishment, and resale options for their customers.
CircularX beat nine other shortlisted companies exhibiting at Retail Technology Show – all of which had been selected as examples of “trailblazing tech and innovation that can help retailers drive their businesses forwards and generate competitive advantage”.
Innovation Award judge & former CEO of Lands’ End Europe, Constanze Freienstein, said: “This is a highly relevant solution for retailers, including fashion, hardgoods and electronics, to offer a 360-degree sustainability offer and addresses an often asked but rarely answered conundrum for many retailers.”
Ex-CEO of Funky Pigeon and fellow Innovation Award judge, Olga Nazarkova, added: “This could allow the whole retail industry to enable circular economy and contribute to a more sustainable business model and help save the planet.
“It’s good for customers, good for retailers, and good for the planet.”
Léa Guyon, business development & partnerships manager at CircularX, remarked: “This is a huge launchpad for us as we aim to expand CircularX in the UK and worldwide, and support retailers in achieving their sustainability objectives while also proving that second-hand can be an economically profitable business model.”
Matt Bradley, event director for the Retail Technology Show, said: “Every year, the stakes get higher and higher, as technology providers push the envelope on innovation further, making CircularX very worthy winners, having united the judges on the benefits of their circular retail solution.”
[Image credit: Retail Technology Show]
