Want to learn more about recommerce, what the term means, and how it might benefit you?
Ingram Micro Lifecycle is a global provider of reverse logistics solutions. Our goal is to enable a circular economy for our customers. We have operated recommerce processes for many years on behalf of our diverse range of customers.
Below, we introduce recommerce, what it involves, the types, and summarise the benefits for businesses and end users.
The definition of recommerce
Recommerce can be considered a synonym for reselling or aftermarket sales. It covers the process of selling a like-new or used product that has been previously owned. The buyers may go on to repair, refurbish, recycle, resell, or reuse the items they’ve purchased.
Types of recommerce
Historically these may have been in-person sales without repair or refurbishment services added into the process, such as local marketplaces for consumer-to-consumer or in-store business-to-consumer sales.
As new digital marketplaces and innovations have risen, there are more avenues for recommerce, including:
- Business to Business: buyback schemes for devices in bulk.
- Business to Consumer: goods that have been repaired and refurbished to a good working condition.
- Consumer to Consumer: informal sales conducted on digital marketplaces such as eBay, Facebook, and Vinted.
- Consumer to Business: trade-in schemes.
Recommerce benefits
There are many benefits of reselling used products that impact people, the planet, and profit across the different ventures that involve recommerce. This act supports the current shift in the consumer market from an owning economy to a sharing economy.
The resale of used products enables consumers to benefit financially from their items. Electronic trade-in schemes allow consumers to receive money back, store credit, or discounts against upgrades when bringing in a used item that they no longer have a use for. Examples of products eligible for trade-in can include gaming consoles, smartphones, and small domestic appliances.
On the other side of the process, consumers benefit from the increased affordability of products. The secondary markets offer items that have typically been restored to good work order that are a fraction of the original brand-new product price. This helps with consumer peer pressure to always own the latest and greatest technology, rather than use outdated gadgets where manufacturer support and updates may no longer be supplied.
There’s a degree of soothing eco-anxiety within consumers here, as there’s less pressure on them to find a sustainable end-of-life process for their unwanted products. They can trade them in, knowing the items will be processed compliantly, without needing to find an alternative recycling or disposition option.
Where it’s economically viable, products that are traded in can be repaired and refurbished to recover value for the business to sell them on. These enable an additional revenue stream for businesses and supply a source of refurbished devices to satisfy a growing demand.
It also enables brands to target new segments of the market that were previously unobtainable because of affordability barriers.
Any device that is being resold and reused elsewhere has its lifecycle extended. Where it was once unwanted and unused, it may have headed to landfill. Destined for reuse instead, it avoids becoming e-waste and doesn’t risk adding harmful materials into the atmosphere.
The opportunities for you in recommerce
Recommerce is a means of extending the lifecycle of unwanted devices, perhaps through repair and refurbishment services, passing them on to the next user so they avoid becoming waste.
Ingram Micro Lifecycle is active in the recommerce market, having built a relationship network of global contacts and platforms to assist with the lifecycle extension of devices and enabling a circular economy for our customers.
If you’re looking for more information on how to sell devices on a large, long-term scale, reach out to our team today.
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