Online renting, recommerce firms boost pre-owned product market

Facebook and Amazon are among those testing the market in this space

Online renting and recommerce companies are trying to expand the pre-owned product market with innovative solutions catering to different segments. Social media giant Facebook and e-commerce major Amazon are also testing the market in this space.

There has been a shift in the social acceptance of buying pre-owned products, thanks to online classified sites - Quikr and Olx. Understanding the economical benefits, a large pool of buyers and sellers are using these web platforms.

Tiger Global-backed Quikr has vertical oriented monetisation streams - QuikrC2C, QuikrCars and QuikrHomes. It has introduced escrow payments, inspection reports, scanner apps that assess quality of pre-owned goods and Doorstep offering which allows home delivery. These innovations allow both ease of discovery and secured transactions.

According to Quikr chief product officer Anurag Saran, the online platform gets more than 30 million monthly unique visitors across 1,000 cities. The number of transactions base has grown four times and the revenues has more than doubled after the launch of Quikr Doorstep last year.

"Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) trade has one of the highest monetisation opportunities and we are constantly innovating to bring them online," Saran said.

Amazon India has started two categories on its platform to sell used mobiles and used books from professional sellers across the country.

Amazon spokesperson said, "We have seen a growing demand from customers. We continue to add more products on this platform. Offering customers the same level of trust in purchasing used goods, as there is while purchasing a new product from Amazon is a major challenge. We are overcoming this with a combination of the right tools in the hands of our sellers and the right processes at our end."

Amazon also has another programme 'Sell as Individual', where consumers can sell their used products on its platform. At present, this service is available only in Bengaluru. The programme has been specifically customised for Indian users with features like doorstep pick-up, packing and delivery. Based on the learnings in Bengaluru, it will consider expansion in more cities, the spokesperson added.

Last October, Facebook rolled out Marketplace to discover, buy and sell pre-owned items in four countries -- US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. The social networking site may soon bring Marketplace to India, as part of its expansion plans to other countries in the coming few months.

With the success of Quikr and Olx, a lot of recommerce companies have emerged in the last couple of years in each segment. Cars24, CarTrade, Gaadi, Truebil, Droom and Credr are some of the start-ups in automobile sector; while Cashify, GreenDust and Reboot Systems in electronics space; and Elanic, Envoged, Etashee, ShareWardrobe, StylishPlay, Coutloot and GreenSole in the fashion category.

Along with these, several C2C and B2C online rental platforms like SabRentKaro, Grabonrent and RentMojo provide used goods on rent. There are also similar renting portals across various segments. ZoomCars, Carzonrent and Tazzo in automobile sector, and LibeRent, Flyrobe and SwishList in luxury fashion space.

Hyderabad-based SabRentKaro has included rent2own (R2O) option on its online renting platform. With this, a consumer can own the product after continuously paying rent for few months. Currently, Ola and Uber drivers have availed smartphones on R2O basis. At the end of six months, they would own the phones.

Now it is planning to offer motorcycles on R2O basis to a bike-sharing service aggregator with an investment of $250,000, according to SabRentKaro founder and CEO Raj Sivaraju.