Futureshop: First-rate thinking on secondhand goods

[mandy]

Book review of "Futureshop"

...consumers are buying more things with a plan to use and resell them while they still have value instead of keeping them until they can only be trashed or donated. Though eBay and some of its Web competitors have driven that trend, it has not nearly reached its potential. EBay and most of the other auction sites are too difficult for many people to use...

As improvements continue to enhance the liquidity and security of trading and selling used goods online, Nissanoff says, the auction culture will assume the proportions of a consumer revolution that will transform the retail marketplace. He sees the creation of a cycle in which sales of new goods will increase by virtue of the buyers of quality used goods becoming attached to various brands. The other part of the cycle sees sellers of used goods using their recouped value to offset some of the cost of buying new ones.

full article: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/...and_goods/

[mandy]

Transcript of an interview and question and answer session with the author of FutureShop

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...technology

He predicts that the online auction culture will explode, completely changing consumerism as we know it, and explains in his book how you can "trade-up" for the good life with a little help from eBay. Nissanoff also forsees the creation of new jobs and businesses to support the burgeoning auction economy, such as authenticators, restorers, consultants and an increase of shops that will help consumers sell and package their wares.

[mandy]

As Nissanoff sees it, U.S. consumers are adopting ``a new lifestyle,'' one based on ``temporary ownership and marked by the continuous replacement of our personal possessions.''

Tired of that $820 Louis Vuitton bag? Take it to your local EBay drop-shop, a storefront that specializes in putting goods on the block for the Internet auctioneer...

Nissanoff believes manufacturers will eventually become partners in the trade-up game: ``Cell-phone companies will automatically send us the newest, most-high-tech mobile phone every six months.''

The move from a culture of accumulation to one of temporary ownership, Nissanoff says, will underpin a societal shift in which many consumers will gain access to luxury goods they once couldn't afford...

full article: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000088&sid=a.bbvmASi9X0&refer=culture

[Kristijntje]

eBay employee Alan Lewis' blog has a synopsis of a speech given by Daniel Nissanoff, author of FutureShop, to eBay employees

Here are five strategies from the book that I want to highlight.

  1. Certification of pre-owned goods, following the lead of the car industry’s success. This allows the brands to control the flow of inventory and good, it helps build brand loyalty, it protects the integrity of the brand.
  2. Trade-in/Trade-up programs. Some examples of this are already being done, like Callaway golf clubs
  3. Brand marketing: using auctions for marketing purposes instead of to merely drive sales
  4. Harnessing the market data.
  5. In-Season inventory management. Brands can mask this channel by calling items "previously owned."

http://alanlewis.typepad.com/weblog/2006...off_o.html

[bargainbloodhound]

the auction culture will assume the proportions of a consumer revolution that will transform the retail marketplace

I think the auction format itself has reached its peak (in the US) because the novelty is gone, but I think he could be right about the possibility of a "consumer revolution" of C2C (consumer-to-consumer) sales transforming the retail marketplace.  I'll be really web 2.0 ( I can't stand that term  ) and say it could be a combination of classifieds, blogs, rss feeds, and something to tie them all together (gee sounds like I'm describing something like Edgeio...but I don't think Edgeio will be the one to bring it to mass market) that does it.