In spite of recession, trust tops price for fashion resale marketplaces
Pasabi, a company that provides an AI-powered tech solution to detect bad actors, fake reviews, and listings, recently conducted ground-breaking UK consumer research on users’ buying experiences on popular fashion resale apps to determine what they value the most.
The survey indicates that Vinted is the most popular resale app with 86% of those surveyed using it. Two-thirds of respondents used Depop, making it the second most popular resale app. Shpock was the third most popular app, with 4 out of 10 respondents using it.
Amongst those surveyed, 84% of respondents said trusting the seller was the most important factor, while only 16% mentioned price as being important.
Over half of users surveyed have experienced fake reviews, a growing area of concern online – either directly on the app (10%), being asked to write a positive review (29%), or by receiving a review they felt they didn’t deserve (13%).
The survey also found that 22% of respondents had been contacted by sellers about completing sales off-app, which would mean that if anything went wrong, they wouldn’t be protected by the in-app protection. Additionally, almost one in every ten users surveyed stated they had been scammed out of money.
• 84% of respondents said trust and safety were more important than price
• 52% of users experienced issues with fake reviews
• 29% of users said the product they ordered did not match the listing
• 22% of users said the product they ordered did not arrive
From fake reviews to fake accounts to bypassing counterfeit goods, each one of these negative activities can undermine trust in resale apps. These types of experiences can cause users to leave resale platforms, resulting in revenue loss, poor customer retention, and reduced growth.
Additionally, a troubling trend shows that 13% of dissatisfied customers deleted the app rather than complaining to the customer service team. Furthermore, 5% of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with reselling apps on social media.
The survey data suggests that one in five respondents informed their friends about their dissatisfaction, which creates poor brand associations within their peer group, potentially leading to further loss of revenue for resale marketplaces.
Pasabi’s survey demonstrates how vital user trust is to the success of fashion resale and suggests there is more to be done to improve it. With more resale apps being released on the market and a growing focus on regulation, trust can become a significant competitive advantage for resale markets that do it right.