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Missed the last issue?
Casey and I have talked about live-streaming and live shopping since the beginning of our podcast, always asking why it wasn’t working here yet. Casey added the painful part: we’ve failed a lot of our predictions because of it. Tom Verrilli told us to make bold ones now. So I reset ours on the spot: live shopping keeps working, thanks to Whatnot. “Deal,” he said.
I Wore Fuchsia to Shoptalk. ThredUp Noticed.
I wore a bright fuchsia polo to Shoptalk Fall that day. Near the end of my conversation with Alon Rotem of ThredUp, he pointed right at it.
“Not everybody has that polo shirt that you’re wearing,” he said. “That bright fuchsia color, which I love.”
He was using my shirt to explain why people shop resale. For years ThredUp figured the answer was value and sustainability, and both still hold up. ThredUp’s research kept pointing to a third reason that matters most to shoppers: the unique find.
People don’t want to look like everybody else.
I’ll take the compliment. I’ll also take the lesson, because it explains the news ThredUp made that morning.
Alon is ThredUp’s Chief Strategy Officer, and he joined us on The Retail Razor Show about a year ago. This time we sat down live in the RETHINK Retail Creator Studio in Nashville, a few hours after ThredUp announced it’s selling live on Whatnot.
Its first show had aired about an hour before we hit record.
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One-of-a-kind inventory fits live shopping.
ThredUp has 5 million items for sale at any given time. Every one is a single SKU. About 100,000 more get processed and listed every day.
So Alon’s bottleneck is the clock.
“The constraint is the number of hours of live shows we can do,” he told me.
He pointed out that live selling platforms usually have the reverse problem.
ThredUp’s answer is volume: multiple themed shows a day, built around a single size, a category like dresses, or a theme like a beach party.
My favorite detail is where the shows come from. The studios sit inside ThredUp’s Atlanta and Dallas distribution centers. Alon compared the backdrop to Monsters, Inc., with clothing riding carousels behind the host. His new hosts walked in and saw three stories of clothes. I’d tune in for the set alone.
The mistakes are part of the show.
Alon has watched plenty of live selling shows, and what he likes is how unrehearsed they are. Mistakes happen in real time. The chat fills up. With a producer answering questions as they come in, the audience feels like part of it.
I’ll be honest, this is where a lot of retail brands will struggle.
They’ll want the polished version, with approved scripts and perfect lighting. I’d bet the polished version gets a lot fewer comments.
ThredUp went homegrown on hosts, too. The team considered inviting outside talent to set up shop in its studios, then hired its own people whose full-time job is going live.
Let the app do the shopping work.
Alon’s term for where ThredUp’s AI work is headed is “lean back discovery.” Search bars got smarter with AI. You can type a micro trend in plain language now. You’re still doing the work, though.
Lean back means the app learns from what you do, in real time, and brings things to you, the way your social feeds already do.
“Everything is a snowflake,” he said about ThredUp’s inventory. That’s why he’s bullish on personalization for resale in particular.
I’m the guy who second-guesses every search. If I type this combination of words, I already know what comes back, and I know it’s going to miss. So yes, Alon, I would love to lean back.
Pitching AI projects to your board?
Where I landed.
For years Casey and I predicted live shopping would take off in North America.
For years we were early. Whatnot changed that, and a few days before Shoptalk, its Chief Product Officer, Tom Verrilli, told us on The Retail Razor Show that today is to live shopping what 2005 was to e-commerce. (see last issue for that story)
ThredUp is the first resale company I’ve watched go all in on it, and it shows up with something most live sellers would love to have: close to endless inventory where nothing repeats.
My take: resale may be the best-fit category for live shopping in North America.
Every item is a one-off. Hosts can theme a show around anything. Whatever doesn’t sell goes right back on the site. The number I’ll be watching is how many shows a day ThredUp can actually run.
Watch, listen, and stay sharp.
🎙️ Season 2, Episode 12 of Retail Transformers: “ThredUp Just Went Live: The Big Move For Resale and Live Shopping”
There’s one more story in this episode I can’t stop thinking about. Alon’s 14-year-old daughter has figured out that her closet is her currency. I’m not spoiling how. Jump to 23:17 to hear Alon tell it.
Listen wherever you get podcasts or watch on our YouTube channel or Spotify.
Your turn.
If you’re as bullish on live shopping and resale as we are, or even if you’re not, but enjoyed our opinion on it, subscribe so the next one lands in your inbox and you don’t miss out.
Next on Retail Transformers: Sabrina McPherson, SVP at Publicis Sapient, recorded live at RetailClub. Subscribe using the button below so it lands in your inbox.
Comment on this newsletter or join the conversation on LinkedIn! Your insights may help shape the topics we explore next.
Until next time! Stay sharp. Be Bold. And Transform Retail!
Sincerely,
Ricardo Belmar
The Retail Razor: Retail Transformers
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The Retail Razor Podcast Network
Retail Transformers is part of the Retail Razor Podcast Network, alongside The Retail Razor Show, Blade to Greatness, and Data Blades. Find us at RetailRazor on LinkedIn, Bluesky, Threads, and Instagram. For a full transcript of this episode, visit our retailrazor.com website!