ShopWorn was born out of this proverbial “inventory problem”. What we do is take this inventory off the hands of brands or their authorised retailers and sell this past-season merchandise on our site at substantial savings. 

How does your business model differ from those of other platforms? 

ShopWorn items are never previously owned nor are they new from the current season. Our merchandise comes directly from brands or retailers sanctioned by the brands to sell their products. Our customers are the first true owners of any item they purchase from our site. 

The direct relationship between ShopWorn, brands and authorised retailers alleviates questions of authenticity. We can guarantee all our items are 100 per cent authentic without having to employ “authenticators”. We also purchase all our inventory before it appears on our site, and items featured on the ShopWorn site are always in stock and ready to ship.

How has the pandemic affected your business?

While we have been steadily growing our brand relationships outside the watch industry, the pandemic has created new relationships in other luxury accessories categories. Where ShopWorn was once 80 per cent watches, our product mix has become increasingly diverse as we work with more jewellery, eyewear, writing instruments and leather goods brands.

How do you convince brands sensitive about their image to work with you? 

Our promise to our partners is that we will never sell their products as new. They are not new. They are “shop worn” products from past seasons – a distinction that explains to our customers why our prices are substantially less than the original retail price. It is a distinction that also protects the luxury image for customers who prefer current season merchandise. ShopWorn customers understand the savings they receive are exclusively by virtue of the items being “shop worn” product from past seasons. The prices are not reflective of the brand’s luxury reputation. Our business model makes perfect sense to our partners as we offer them a channel to recycle past seasons’ merchandise without devaluing their image. For many brands, our model has also become an effective way to meet sustainability mandates as we provide a solution that avoids destroying product. 

Do you employ different strategies for China and the rest of the world?

China is one of the world’s most advanced and demanding e-commerce markets, hence we are not using a “one size fits all” approach. 

How do you engage with Chinese millennials and Gen Z? 

We plan to localise our content and promote through social and video streaming media such as WeChat and Douyin, as well as our vast network of local cross-border shopping affiliate media. We have also been in contact with several KOLs, who will be instrumental in our long-term penetration. Our first campaign with a significant KOL will launch later this year. We are continuing to investigate opportunities to work with other KOLs as we value their tremendous influence over Chinese millennials and Gen Z and realise they are important to the success of a Western company in this market. Lastly, we also believe a membership set-up will be instrumental.

Work experience:

1999-2000: Vice-president, Omni Imports

2000-2015: Co-founder, ProWorth

2015-present: Founder and CEO, ShopWorn

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