This is the second of two stories about what’s in store for the resale market next year.

In our first installment, we pondered the resale market’s velocity:

• Even more brands could open resale stores this year than in 2022.
• Revenues will keep climbing, but profits may remain elusive until both resale marketplaces like ThredUp and brand-led resale efforts scale up.
• Luxury brands, some of which were hesitant to jump on the resale bandwagon, will climb aboard.

Onward, then, to more predictions.

Online resale marketplaces will expand to IRL stores

Recently we (specifically me, Andy) visited TheRealReal, which, although known primarily as an e-commerce purveyor of luxury resale, has a brick-and-mortar location (one of 19) in the SoHo section of Manhattan. We sampled some delectables from its café, which is called, naturally, The RealReal CaféCafé.

Matthew A. Kaness, CEO and board advisor of GoodwillFinds.com, the Goodwill e-commerce site that launched in 2022, told us it’s “inevitable” that more e-commerce resale programs will add IRL locations in 2023.

“People live on and offline; you have to be on and offline,” Kaness told us. “You can acquire customers and capture demand in both the physical world and the digital world.”

Legacy retail brands will sell resale in stores

Along with marketplaces like TheRealReal, this also could be the year that more brands with online resale programs—like, say, Adidas—start stocking used items alongside new merchandise in their stores.

“There are some brands that have done this already—Patagonia and REI being a couple—but it’s not commonplace yet,” Emily Gittins, co-founder and CEO of Archive, which partners with retail brands on their resale programs, told us. “It’s definitely further along in Europe.”

Other categories will flourish

Apparel resale tends to hog the spotlight when it comes to the resale surge in media coverage (yeah, us too), but most used items purchased are not clothes.

Keep reading here.—AAN

Who hasn’t at some point wanted to own the coveted Hermès Birkin bag? We know we have. But the problem is its whopping price tag (can run up to tens or even hundreds of thousands of $$). Moreover, the luxury bags are also difficult to acquire in the first place as the waitlist for the item can often be years long.

The legal angle: Well, a little over a year ago, NFT designer Mason Rothschild devised a workaround by dropping NFTs resembling the Birkin bags. The digital furry renditions of the bags that he called “MetaBirkins” sold for ~$42,000 online. Except, this did not sit well with Hermès, which then slammed the creator with a lawsuit claiming the product “simply rips off Hermès’s famous Birkin trademark by adding the generic prefix ‘meta.’”

“I am not creating or selling fake Birkin bags. I’ve made artworks that depict imaginary, fur-covered Birkin bags,” Rothschild previously said in an online statement responding to the suit. “I won’t be intimidated.”

And he has stood by that, which led to a ruling on Dec. 30, wherein a US district judge declared a trial date for the end of this month.

But why should you care? The high-profile case has raised eyebrows—not just because it’s Hermès, but also because the results of the case could help determine what counts as intellectual property as the world of Web3 and metaverse continues to expand.

Keep reading here.—JS

Today’s top retail reads.

A bigger slice: Casey’s is a Midwestern gem when it comes to pizza. But the chain is far from a diamond in the rough; it’s now the fifth largest pizza chain in the country, as it has embraced a digital-first approach that has increased customer loyalty and revenue. (Salesforce)

I’m just a bill: After an…eventful first week, Congress is now set to move forward with its agenda, which includes a handful of bills that, if passed, could have major ramifications on the retail industry. (Modern Retail)

Scrambling for answers: Egg prices started to spike during the holiday season last year—not because of inflation, but rather a bird flu that has affected flocks across 47 states. (the Washington Post)

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The numbers you need to know.

Never great news to discuss, but experts mostly believe the United States is heading for a recession this year.

The average forecast among economists gives the US economy a 64% chance of retracting this year, according to Bankrate’s Fourth-Quarter Economic Indicator poll. Just 15% of economists polled—two people—believe a financial downturn is avoidable.

• The percentage of economists saying the US is headed toward a recession is up 33% from Q1 2022 and 52% from Q2.

“If a much-feared recession does emerge as the year unfolds, this would seem to be the most widely predicted contraction of the economy that I can remember,” Mark Hamrick, Bankrate senior economic analyst, said in a statement. “It would also be essentially self-inflicted by the Federal Reserve, which has been aggressively raising interest rates in the cause of slaying the inflation monster.”

Interestingly, the unemployment rate is expected to hit 4.7% a year from now, which would be the lowest rate of any recession in history. Economists also predict the economy will add an average of 42,000 jobs per month over the course of the year.—KM

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Getting used to getting used: The resale outlook for 2023
• Timex teams up with Bored Ape Yacht Club on NFTs
• What we’ll be looking out for during NRF