4 Ways The Pandemic Redefined The Resale Industry

By Fatime G

A lot has changed since the pandemic, from the economy to our social lives and commerce. The pandemic transformed how we live our lives, and while some of these changes are no more than temporary adjustments, others are here to stay.

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Take the fashion industry, for instance; what could have gone wrong with that? We’ll tell you. Fashion-related lines like source suppliers, freight companies, and global retailers took a hit, subsequently changing the resale sector.

The commerce sector is ever-changing. Two years into the pandemic, the market is almost unrecognizable, with consumers switching their habits and vendors changing their systems. Below, we’ll highlight four ways the pandemic reshaped the resale industry.

Supply chain overload

From the infamous Suez Canal ship situation to the shutting down of China’s port, freighters around the world were facing significant traffic with client orders during Covid, which eventually led to vulnerabilities like skyrocketing freight prices and limited cargo space.

That, coupled with the disruption in main manufacturing areas, led to a resale supply chain overload.

Product overload

As the customers furiously clicked away following up on their delayed goods, manufacturers and freighters worked tirelessly to find a solution. Unfortunately, the goods were already outdated by the time they came around to delivering.

In response to this, suppliers turned to retailers to try and curb the surge of products in the market, a move that would set the sector with an overwhelming amount of products to sell.

Exploding e-commerce

Let’s face it: we all enjoyed brick-and-mortar shopping to some extent; however, things changed with COVID-19 in the picture.

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Consumers took to making purchases from the comfort of their homes, ultimately forcing retailers to embrace e-commerce as an alternative to in-store shopping.

Sustainability

Speaking of sobering experiences, Covid played an influential card in opening up consumers’ and manufacturers’ eyes to a renewed sense of goodwill and sustainability.

Instead of letting products and merchandise end up in a landfill, sellers began to look into upcycling, repurposing, and reselling, significantly building the resale sector’s popularity.

The effects of the pandemic on the resale industry are undeniable. Much as the subject is overlooked, one can’t help but acknowledge how influential an instrument Covid has been to the resale sector.