Enduring tween favorite Hot Topic is entering the world of resale with its new Hot Topic Replay program, powered by ThredUP’s resale-as-a-service (RaaS) platform. Customers can now buy gently used Hot Topic items as well as products from other pop culture brands in the retailer’s new online resale shop.
Hot Topic is just the latest retailer to launch a branded resale offering, a group that now includes more than 100 of retail’s biggest names, according to the most recent edition of ThredUP’s Recommerce 100 report, a monthly independent review of branded resale programs.
As of the end of September 2022, ThredUP has identified 107 branded resale shops (operated both through ThredUP and other providers), 73 of which launched in 2022. That is quite a jump from the 31 brands that had resale programs at the end of 2021. If the current pace continues, ThredUP estimates there could be as many as 140 branded resale shops by the end of this year.
The top 10 brands by number of resale listings are (in order): Athleta, Tea Collection, Lululemon Athletica, Tommy Hilfiger, Madewell, Eileen Fisher, Patagonia, REI, PacSun and Kut from the Kloth.
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Both “managed resale” (in which the retailer and a resale partner manage product listings) and “peer-to-peer” models are growing. The managed model dominates when it comes to scale, accounting for 14 of the top 15 resale shops and 78% of listings, while peer-to-peer is winning in number of shops (accounting for 79 out of the total 107 resale shops). However, peer-to-peer shops are very small — 56 of the 107 brands on the Recommerce 100 have fewer than 100 resale listings.
Of the recommerce programs ThredUP tracks in its report, ThredUP (perhaps not surprisingly) currently leads in number of managed resale shops with 11, while fellow RaaS provider Trove has eight and Archive has three.
Hot Topic’s new resale shop will follow the managed resale model — customers in the U.S. can earn Hot Topic shopping credit by sending in women’s and kids’ items, from any brand, to ThredUP for free.
“Incorporating resale into our business model is another step toward sustainability and an exciting opportunity for our customers,” said Steve Vranes, CEO of Hot Topic in a statement. “The launch of Hot Topic Replay provides our customers the ability to give their pop culture merchandise a second life. Leveraging ThredUP’s RaaS was the right decision for us as they have more than a decade of experience powering resale at scale and were able to get us up and running in a short period of time.”
