Digital Forum: ThredUp Goes for Big-Time Growth

ThredUp has been gaining momentum online and off — Macy’s and J.C. Penney just tapped the online thrift shop to add some resale to their stores — but that might only be the beginning. The San Francisco-based company has raised more than $300 million and is bulking up, building infrastructure that’s intended to handle $50 billion to $100 billion worth of product, at retail value, according to Anthony Marino, president. Last month, ThredUp formally launched its resale as a service platform, which is showing up first in 40 Macy’s doors and 30 J.C. Penney locations. Marino said the combination of selling new and old together is a powerful one. “When you put them together, it’s a one-plus-one-equals-three scenario,” he said. It doesn’t hurt that younger consumers are taking to secondhand shopping like never before and traditional retailers are looking for ways to keep bulking up even as consumer preference changes. “It turns out [secondhand is] a big market, there’s a lot of people,” Marino said. “The cool kids call it thrifting, some people just call it shopping consignment, but it’s a $24 billion market today growing to upward of $50 billion in five years. It turns out that the secondhand shopper is not someone else’s customer,

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