Business Practices
Consignment Trends to Prepare for in 2025
Kent Atkinson
Jan 22, 2025
Continued Growth is Driving Three Main Trends
In 2025, second-hand shopping continues to grow, and consignment stores are going to see three major trends: changing customer behavior, greater tech demands, and increased competition. This article breaks down these trends and provides actionable steps so that you can increase your profits while minimizing risks.
Second-hand shopping, encompassing both resale and consignment, has been expanding for years and shows no signs of slowing. This growth presents both opportunities and challenges. In 2025, consignment stores must focus on three key areas:
Adapt to changing customer behavior
Keep up with the technological expectations from consignors and customers
Innovate to beat the growing competition from other small businesses and software
Adapt to Changing Customer Behavior
Customer behavior has shifted rapidly, moving away from brand loyalty and toward trends and value-driven purchasing decisions. Historically, shoppers favored specific brands, but now they prioritize products that align with current trends and offer good value.
Key Statistics:
57% of Gen Z Americans are less loyal to brands now than they were pre-pandemic
More than 1 in 3 U.S. customers aren't loyal to brands
77% of Gen Z adults are willing to try new brands
While many customers will continue to shop their favorite brands, consignment stores should also be adjusting to the shifting behavior of customers. Below are practices that can help you adapt to new customer behavior.
Tag and Track Sales with Inventory Insights
Tracking sales is always important, but it is even more crucial now that shoppers are less predictable; you need to stay up-to-date with customers’ new purchasing patterns. We suggest tracking sales on a weekly basis at least. This is the single best way to understand what your shoppers are going to buy since they’ve already shown their willingness to buy the product. With ConsignCloud, this can be done by using our Inventory Insights report, which can track sales across consignors, categories, brands, tags, and more. By studying sell-through rates, you can stay in tune with customer preferences.
Track Trending Apparel and Products
Stay ahead of trends by researching on social media and the internet. On social media, follow influencers that are on-brand with your store and market. Similarly, follow online fashion blogs and magazines and identify styles that can be incorporated into your store. For stores that want to understand general fashion trends and/or reach a younger audience, we suggest following the lead of social media influencers. For higher-end luxury fashion, magazines remain more influential than influencers.
Here are magazines and influencers you can follow for different levels of fashion:
Luxury/Designer Fashion
Influencers: Chiara Ferragni (@chiaraferragni): An Italian fashion influencer and entrepreneur, Chiara is renowned for her high-end style and collaborations with luxury brands. Olivia Palermo (@oliviapalermo): An American socialite and model, Olivia is celebrated for her impeccable fashion sense, often blending luxury pieces in her ensembles.
Magazines: Vogue: A leading authority in high fashion, Vogue offers in-depth coverage of luxury trends, designer profiles, and exclusive runway reports. Harper's Bazaar: Known for its elegant and sophisticated style, Harper's Bazaar features high-end fashion editorials and insights into luxury fashion.
Premium/Contemporary Brands
Influencers: Aimee Song (@aimeesong): An American fashion blogger and interior designer, Aimee is known for her contemporary style and has collaborated with various premium brands. Camila Coelho (@camilacoelho): A Brazilian-American fashion and beauty influencer, Camila showcases a mix of premium and contemporary fashion styles.
Magazines: ELLE: Catering to a broad audience, ELLE covers contemporary fashion trends, designer interviews, and style advice. Marie Claire: Combining fashion with culture, Marie Claire offers insights into contemporary styles and emerging designers.
Bridge Brands / Affordable Luxury
Influencers: Danielle Bernstein (@weworewhat): An American fashion influencer, Danielle is known for her chic style that often features affordable luxury brands. Leonie Hanne (@leoniehanne): A German fashion blogger, Leonie showcases a blend of high-end and bridge brand styles.
Magazines: Grazia: Bridging the gap between luxury and high street, Grazia offers fashion news, trends, and shopping guides. InStyle: Focusing on accessible fashion, InStyle provides readers with style tips and features on affordable luxury brands.
Mid-Tier / High Street Fashion
Influencers: Julie Sariñana (@sincerelyjules): An American fashion blogger, Julie is known for her approachable style featuring high street fashion brands. Negin Mirsalehi (@negin_mirsalehi): A Dutch fashion influencer, Negin often incorporates high street pieces into her outfits.
Magazines: Cosmopolitan: Covering a wide range of topics, Cosmopolitan includes fashion segments that highlight high street trends and styles. Red: A lifestyle magazine that features fashion content focusing on high street and accessible brands.
Fast Fashion
Influencers: Kerina Wang (@kerina.wang): Known for her youthful and trendy style, Kerina often features affordable fast fashion pieces. Ana Johnson (@anajohnson): A German fashion influencer, Ana showcases everyday outfits incorporating fast fashion brands.
Magazines: Look: A magazine that focuses on high street and fast fashion trends, providing readers with affordable style inspiration. Heat: Primarily a celebrity news magazine, Heat also covers fast fashion trends and where to purchase similar styles.
Streetwear & Athleisure
Influencers: Wisdom Kaye (@wisdm): An American fashion model and content creator, Wisdom is recognized for his unique and stylish streetwear looks. Emma Chamberlain (@emmachamberlain): An American internet personality, Emma is known for her casual and athleisure-inspired fashion sense.
Magazines: Hypebeast: A leading source for streetwear fashion news, Hypebeast covers the latest trends, brand releases, and culture. Complex: Covering a range of topics, Complex includes extensive content on streetwear fashion and sneaker culture.
Personalize Your Marketing
Trends change rapidly and are usually tied to seasonal changes. To collect and sell trending inventory, we highly suggest personalized email marketing.
Start by collecting emails from customers and consignors related to a specific category — for example, luxury handbags (as Alexandria has done). This can be done on your website, through your social media, at your sales counter, or even at select displays in your store. Simply have online or physical forms where individuals can enter their email to receive updates on new luxury handbags. Then, when the store acquires new luxury handbags, send out a daily or weekly email with information on your new selection. We also suggest listing your sales in these emails, which will signal to potential consignors that you can sell their items. Additionally, it will signal to potential buyers the scarcity of your inventory, incentivizing them to come shop.
Keep up with the Technological Expectations of Consignors and Customers
Consumers continue to desire omnichannel shopping—a seamless experience across in-store, online, and social media platforms. Most stores are prepared for the in-person shopping experience, but their social media and website are lacking. We know that this takes additional work, but the payoffs are well worth the effort. Consumers expect inventory to be available for viewing online.
Key statistics:
88% of shoppers say they want businesses to offer both in-store and online options
81% of shoppers research online before visiting the store
52% of shoppers use three or more online resale sites, and 77% visit these sites weekly
44% of consumers are more likely to visit a store if they can check the inventory online prior to visiting
85% of shoppers expect online inventory information to be available
These statistics point to one thing: stores need to be putting their inventory on social media and online! While folks expect online experiences to be available, they still enjoy visiting stores in person.
Key statistics:
63% of shoppers enjoy meeting in-person for transactions
51% enjoy forming friendships through resale
Gen X (ages 43-58) prefers in-store secondhand shopping (69%) and are motivated by affordability of high-end brands
Baby Boomers & Silent Generation (ages 59+) prefer brick-and-mortar secondhand shopping (82%) and are motivated by finding deals
45% of Gen Z and Millennials prefer to buy secondhand apparel online, compared to 38% who prefer to shop at a brick-and-mortar store
We add these statistics to remind stores that it’s not simply online or in-person shopping, but a cohesive, omnichannel shopping experience that creates repeat customers. With that said, we focus on digital initiatives here because most stores struggle with the digital aspect.
Put your Inventory Online
Putting your inventory online, either your entire collection or select inventory, is one of the best ways to attract new customers and show existing customers why they need to come back and shop at your store. The vast majority of shoppers not only view inventory before visiting a store; they often will purchase the inventory to then pick it up in person. With ConsignCloud’s Shopify integration, you can put all your store’s inventory online in minutes. In addition, ConsignCloud's NearSt integration allows stores to post their inventory on Google and on Facebook.
Use Social Media
One of the best ways to market your store's inventory is through social media. This is a completely free method of communicating with both your consignors and your customers. In terms of impact, Instagram is going to be the #1 social media app you should be using, with Facebook at #2 and TikTok at #3.
Simply posting your inventory in brief videos or pictures is a great way to attract shoppers. Here are three low-effort methods of displaying inventory on social media:
Model the inventory yourself or with a friend
Place the inventory on a mannequin
Lay out the inventory in an attractive way
Advertising how fast your inventory sells can encourage consignors to bring in items. Posts are great for this. Additionally, you can create consignor-specific communities and groups so that you can inform your consignors of what is selling well.
Innovate to Beat the Growing Competition from other Small Businesses and Software
Increased competition is coming from specialty retailers, online platforms, and other small businesses. Specialty retailers like J.Crew, PacSun, Tommy Hilfiger, and others are entering the second-hand market by implementing their own online stores or partnering with platforms like ThreadUp. Online platforms like ThreadUp or The RealReal are continuing to grow, helping both individuals and specialty retailers sell their second-hand products, especially luxury items. Lastly, more and more consignment businesses are opening in the form of individually-owned stores and franchises.
To stay ahead of the competition, stores need to be innovating in two major ways.
Create an Experientially Rich Shopping Environment
While consignment is primarily a business with a focus on finding valuable products for lower costs, it is often part of a larger mentality and way of living.
We have already covered two major ways to be an experientially rich shopping experience: by placing your inventory online and by being active on social media. But online-only stores and apps can compete with you in these domains. They are unable to compete with the in-person shopping experience you can offer your customers.
First and foremost, shoppers are at your store to shop, so displaying your inventory in inviting and exciting ways is a crucial step—check out this article for the best ways to display your inventory in your store.
Additionally, your store should have an inviting atmosphere.
Key Statistics:
80% of shoppers are more likely to enter a store with appealing lighting.
The right music increases time spent in a store by 30%.
Pleasant smells can boost customer satisfaction by 40%.
67% of shoppers say comfortable dressing rooms influence their likelihood of making a purchase.
90% of a shopper’s first impression is influenced by color.
80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase when they receive personalized attention.
Interactive features can increase dwell time by 40%.
These are areas where brick-and-mortar stores excel past any online-only or app-based consignment options. From these statistics, we can see that lighting, dressing rooms, color, and personalized attention are four of the most important elements to develop to improve the shopping experience for customers.
Make Consigning at your Store as Simple and Smooth as Possible
Consignors want to earn as much money from their retired items with the least amount of effort possible. These are the two main interests of consignors. Reducing the complexity and amount of barriers is crucial for gaining new consignors and keeping them. We recommend these actions:
Have a simple website page for consignors to understand your terms for consignment and to signup for dropoffs
Make it clear to consignors what they can expect when consigning with you:
What is the split they can expect?
What are the terms for accepting inventory?
How long before they know which items are accepted/rejected?
How long before their items expire?
Have a simple consignor agreement both on the website and at the store easily accessible and ready to sign
Expedite the acceptance/rejection process of inventory for the consignor when possible
Keep the consignor updated on the status of their inventory
In these ways, consignors will prefer to bring items to your store rather than select online apps and platforms.
Conclusion
In 2025, the second-hand market offers immense opportunities for consignment stores, but only those who adapt to changing customer behavior, embrace technology, and innovate to stay competitive will thrive. By implementing the strategies outlined above, your store can capitalize on these trends to attract more consignors, build a loyal customer base, and increase profitability. The future of consignment lies in balancing digital and in-person experiences while simplifying processes for all stakeholders. Start exploring ConsignCloud to lean how to stay ahead in 2025.
