Resale is one of the hottest trends in retail: It’s beloved by Gen Z, is being rapidly adopted by brands, and is experiencing massive growth, including in sectors beyond fashion.

But the excitement has also highlighted unique challenges, including authentication, inventory quality, and consumer experience.

To address some of those challenges, resale is turning to a lot of the same emerging technologies that are taking primary sales by storm.

We talked to leaders on both the peer-to-peer and branded resale sides of the industry, and these are the technologies they say have the biggest potential to transform their work.

Natural language processing

Like everyone else, resale experts are closely watching developments in AI. One branch they’re particularly interested in is natural language processing, which involves understanding and generating human language (and which is the powerhouse behind chatbots, including ChatGPT).

Ken Murphy, SVP of product at OfferUp, said the platform has its eyes on NLP to make the peer-to-peer sales process even smoother.

“Things like ChatGPT offer tremendous opportunities for us to make it really easy for a seller to automatically generate a fantastic description of their item,” Murphy said.

NLP is particularly useful for marketplaces, where sales depend on a huge amount of human language in the form of a chat to answer questions about price, color, and size, among other things.

“We believe there’s a remarkable opportunity for us to start to combine things like NLP and image recognition technologies, where we can start to answer those questions for you,” Murphy said.

Keep reading here.—MA

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A few days ago, we looked at how MyTheresa, the luxury e-comm retailer, is targeting the US as its key market and tailoring its strategy to appeal to the local consumer.

But who exactly is that consumer and what do they want? Per Heather Kaminetsky, president of the North American arm at MyTheresa, 90% of them are women who want curation, good merchandise, and most of all unique experiences.

“People purchase luxury because it’s an emotion,” she told Retail Brew. “We as a business really try to tap into the emotions of the consumer. We do things with them that are really different, and a lot of times we don’t even talk about it.”

She cites as an example a MyTheresa event in New York last May, when the e-tailer partnered with the New York City Ballet and rented the entire theater, where 60 of the company’s top clients were invited to watch a rehearsal of Swan Lake. “Does money [buy that?] Maybe, but would you do that? Probably not,” she said. “So we try to do these experiences to engage with different clientele, and to get them to learn about us, we learn about them. That’s how we like to build our relationships.”

Standing out: And as the company continues to grow and meet with its new consumers, it’s also expanding its product categories. Currently, MyTheresa offers menswear, womenswear, kidswear, accessories, and lifestyle. Now, the retailer has its eyes on fine jewelry.

Keep reading here.—JS

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Kim Hatch is senior director of the retail media network at Goodway Group, an agency working with brands like Dr Pepper and Kodiak Cakes.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? We take the data from retailers to help advertisers get the right message at the right time in front of customers based on past purchase history. Messaging for what I specifically work on is typically around savings and promotional offers that might appeal to customers as they come back in market for a product, like laundry detergent or snacks for their family.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? How much collaboration goes into making things come to life. It’s my favorite part of the job!

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? Building out the retail media team at Goodway Group. It’s not often you get to build something from scratch (and it was a heavy lift!), but it’s been so rewarding to see the team flourish in the last year.

Which emerging retail trend are you most excited about this year, and why? Since the pandemic, it feels like everything retail has been focused on e-comm, but in the last year, there is a newer appreciation for brick and mortar again that I’m really excited about. Customers are still shopping in stores, and there’s a lot of potential for advertisers to tap into there!

What’s your go-to coffee order? Black coffee, but occasionally a matcha latte with almond milk.

Worst piece of advice you’ve received? Early in my career, I was told I was too assertive. Luckily, I had a great mentor at the time who helped me see that my assertiveness was a good quality that would benefit me and my career in the years to come.

What was your favorite retail product when you were 15, and what’s your favorite retail product now? When I was 15, I got my first pair of Birkenstocks, and those shoes lived through a lot of life with me. Today, I’m a huge fan of a good pair of jeans and still love my (newer) Birkenstocks.

Today’s top retail reads.

Thrown for a dupe: With #dupe amassing 4 billion views on TikTok, it’s safe to say Gen Z is obsessed with dupes, particularly when it comes to beauty products. This could spell trouble for some middle-market and luxury labels. (Business of Fashion)

AI-OK: Mercari US CEO John Lagerling discusses the resale platform’s new Merchant AI shopping assistant bot. (WWD)

New material: To lower prices and boost profits amid inflation, Ikea designers have worked to rethink many of its products. (the Wall Street Journal)

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

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• How the iconic Heinz bottle became central to the brand’s identity
• How eBay is attracting dedicated sneakerheads