LOS ANGELES: Vinted, Europe’s leading online consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace dedicated to second-hand fashion, just released a newly improved version of its mobile app and online platform for the U.S. market. While the platform brings additional options to further enable consumers to trade pre-loved fashion and lifestyle items with each other, Vinted keeps its core features beneficial to members who seek to save money and make extra cash. Vinted facilitates access for buyers to lower priced and unique second-hand clothing, but also allows sellers to entirely keep what they earn from their pre-loved clothes, with no fee to list and sell.
With a new and more user-friendly app, still free to download and register, members in the U.S. can now even more conveniently trade their pre-loved clothes and accessories with one another. As sellers, Vinted members can easily upload their pre-loved fashion items, define the price of their pre-loved clothes and keep what they earn from it, with zero selling fees. The new version of the app also introduces a new category: home décor items, as well as the Bump feature, which gives sellers the option for a small fee to temporarily increase the visibility of their items, hence the chance to sell them faster.
Buyers get access to a large variety of fashion and brands at low prices. At this moment, shoppers on the app are discovering great deals on second-hand outfits and gift ideas for Halloween, Thanksgiving and the holidays. With this updated app, Vinted is the perfect solution for cash conscious consumers seeking the convenience of second-hand shopping.
Members buying on Vinted via the Buy Now button are also provided with a Buyer Protection service for a fixed fee of $0.70 USD plus 5% of the item’s price. They can then benefit from Vinted’s refund policy, customer support, along with an integrated encrypted payment system with secured payment methods and transactions.
“We’re thrilled to be taking our business to the next level in the U.S., enabling financially savvy people to benefit from second-hand fashion, either as buyers or sellers,” said Vinted’s CEO Thomas Plantenga. “After great success in Europe, we’re committed to empowering more people to shift their habits towards circular fashion. Releasing this new updated version of the app is another step forward in our mission to make second hand the first choice worldwide.”
“The fashion industry has a major impact on the climate and we believe that promoting more second-hand is one part of the solution to tackling that impact”, adds Thomas Plantenga. “People also seek new ways to save or even make extra money, and to help enable greater engagement within the circular economy, we see that it's important to create a product and app that are convenient, fun but also deliver economic and financial value to people.”
The World Economic Forum found in 2019, that the pre-loved fashion market had expanded 21 times faster than that of conventional apparel commerce.
Market research conducted on behalf of Vinted in collaboration with Dynata* also found that almost half (49%) of US women aged 18-45 years old, say that they sell their pre-loved clothes to earn extra money, while a similar proportion (50%) say they can save money and spend less on clothing by buying second hand. However, this does not reflect any compromises on fashion. A third (34%) of those same consumers believe they can find unique items in a second-hand shopping experience.
About Vinted: Vinted is the largest online international C2C marketplace in Europe dedicated to second-hand fashion, with a Lgrowing member base of over 45 million members spanning 15 markets in Europe and North America: France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Luxembourg, UK as well as the USA and Canada. Founded in 2008 in Lithuania by Milda Mitkute and Justas Janauskas, and joined by first investor and COO Mantas Mikuckas in 2011, the company is now led by CEO Thomas Plantenga and backed by six leading venture capital firms: Accel, Burda Principal Investments, EQT Growth, Insight Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sprints Capital. On a mission to make second-hand the first choice worldwide, Vinted helps members sell and buy second-hand clothes and accessories from each other, making shopping a mobile and social experience through one-on-one member interactions in its community. The European start-up is head-quartered in Vilnius, with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Utrecht and Prague and has 1000 employees.
