The RealReal: A lesson in elevating resale, making sustainability cool and going IPO

Background: In 2018, The RealReal was gaining awareness with savvy luxury shoppers, but no one had shopped or consigned quite like this before —> the challenge was introducing a new brand and a new consumer behavior. TRR was not your local dusty resale shop, it was a global e-commerce website with the world’s top luxury brands. I was responsible for growing brand awareness, the (new & repeat) consignor base and increasing the overall LTV of consignors in the North Central region of the US.

Key Insight & Strategy: The TRR customer experience needed to match the quality and luxury of the goods we were selling, from the website & app to the marketing, in-home concierge service and retail stores. Salesforce (& other revenue data) indicated that consignors - people who sell their items on the website - who consign high value items like jewelry, watches, bags that are priced $1k+ frequently (every 1-3 months) are the most profitable for the company. They also tend to be heavy shoppers of the site, refer others and therefore are a critical segment to acquiring and selling more high-value luxury items at a higher price, frequency and volume.

Secondarily, consignors of high-value items are usually emotionally attached to them, for a variety of reasons. Therefore, the marketing strategy applied was a high-touch, white-glove approach - just because this is resale doesn’t mean it has to be second-hand or shady feeling. Also showing consignors how much they were helping the environment through the personal TRR Sustainability Calculator helped give purpose to the transaction, and encouraged brand loyalty.

Lastly, data also showed that seasonality played a big role in consignment cycles and shopping volume on the site, much like it does in mainstream fashion & retail, so following a seasonality and promotional calendar was critical.

These insights led to taking a “luxury VIP clientele” approach in strategy, execution and tonality with a focus on this customer segment through national TV, audio and targeted digital campaigns, 1:1 email, text and DM outreach as well as events and organic social media promotion and education. To fuel growth, retail expansion including consignment drop off, shopping and live gemologists elevated the resale experience.

Results

Grew North Central to a top five performing region in the country including opening of Chicago store
Exceeded all quotas to attend top tier national marketing & sales convention in Las Vegas my first year
Grew North Central region over 30% through referrals, lifecycle, local partnerships with Porsche, Soho House, Pure Barre and seasonal promotional activity
IPO on Nasdaq, July 2019 (REAL) | Recognized as the world’s largest luxury consignment platform with 32.5+ million global members*
Sustainability & Social Impact: TRR has helped save 32.7+ million luxury items in circulation, while saving 3.7 billion liters of water and 69,997 metric tons of carbon.*

*as of July 2023

National TV spot 2019