In the furniture sector, the recovery rate of “non-new” products has become a key KPI. Retailers previously outsourced this task to players such as Veepee, or let private individuals manage resale of their own second-hand furniture on C2C platforms such as Leboncoin. Now they’re taking back control. Since January 1, 2022 under A.G.E.C. law, French retailers are banned from destruction of their unsold goods. They also have to provide their customers with spare parts. Instead of selling used products at low prices to a destocker like Noz, or even giving them away, they are now seeking to resell them in the most efficient and measurable manner.
The issue of reuse includes but is not limited to return management. In the furniture sector, it is more recent than at fashion and electronics retailers, where e-commerce gained traction earlier (products have a barcode and are easy to deliver via a letterbox). While the average return rate in Europe is around 25% (across all sectors), the return rate for furniture pure-players is around 5% in volume. Each retailer has a specific reuse strategy. For instance, players such as Zalando and Zara have been tackling this issue head-on for several years. “For retailers of furnishings and bulky goods like garden centres, the issue of returns remained marginal until Covid-19, when e-commerce really took off”, sums up Olympe Chabert, C.E.O. of Smartback. “The financial tidal wave of returns began about 3 years ago. As a result, over the last few months, players have been strengthening organisations with the creation of Reverse Logistics Director functions. We saw that happening at Maisons du Monde, ManoMano, Vente-Unique, CDiscount…”.
Finally, re-use in the furniture sector is most often unprofitable.
