Luxury e-commerce startup a channel for unsold inventory


MENA Newswire: Luxury e-commerce startup ShopWorn is on track to hit $20 million in sales by year end. Initially fueled by the revenge shopping spree begun by Chinese consumers, leading ShopWorn to open a Hong Kong satellite, American consumers are now doing their own revenge spending on ShopWorn as a sustainable alternative to buying used luxury. ShopWorn’s circular business model of acquiring past seasons’ unsold luxury watches, jewelry, leather goods and other accessories directly from luxury brands or their authorized retailers tackles a less addressed area in retail sustainability conversations: what to do with unsold inventory at the end of every season. 

With consumers now choosing where they spend their money based on a company’s environmental footprint, luxury brands are viewing ShopWorn not only as a channel for their remaining inventory of never previously owned products, but also as a pathway for achieving zero-waste in their production cycles.  This added value has aided ShopWorn in increasing the number of luxury brands working directly with the site by 50 percent over the past 12 months. This gained market share and new customer acquisition account for ShopWorn’s 117 percent projected growth since the start of the pandemic. 

“Talk of sustainability must go beyond what has already been produced,” said Larry Birnbaum, CEO of ShopWorn. “What about the raw materials remaining after wholesale orders have been fulfilled? We understand these supplies are often never enough for a complete production run, so we encourage our brand partners to provide us merchandise made from these leftover materials, whether this is one item or five. In this, we assist our partners in reducing waste and support our customers’ desires to be part of the circular economy.” 

Cyril Guerin, Product Director for DeWitt Watches, commented, “The challenges that come from sparing no detail in achieving the highest in horology is the spare components once a DeWitt timepiece is completed.  This is where our relationship with ShopWorn has become a valuable part of our business as we continue to explore our environmental impact. Through ShopWorn, we are able to ensure fewer unused components at the end of every production season. Once our primary clientele orders have been satisfied, we then deliver to ShopWorn customers exceptional DeWitt timepieces that allow us to advance our ingenuity in watchmaking while focusing on zero waste. Sustainability in watchmaking isn’t impossible – you must only have the right partner to achieve it. For us, ShopWorn has been that partner.”

ShopWorn is an e-commerce shopping destination for customers who want to be the first to own authentic, unused luxury products but don’t want to pay luxury prices. Launched in 2015, ShopWorn was created to help brands and their authorized retailers sustainably alleviate the challenge of unsold inventory. 

With ShopWorn’s unique sourcing strategy of obtaining products directly from luxury brands and authorized retailers, every item sold on ShopWorn is guaranteed to be 100% authentic and never previously owned, even at incredible savings from the original MSRP. The direct relationship between ShopWorn, brands and authorized dealers alleviates any question of authenticity. And because customers should be able to trust what they see and buy online is what they receive, all ShopWorn product images are from an in-house photographer. Stock images are never used.  Items featured on the ShopWorn site are always in stock and ready to ship within two business days.