Clean Up by Prompting People to Clear Out

Item resale requires an ongoing influx of used merchandise. Some of those items are probably residing in your customers’ possession purgatories—a state between use and discard. People usually don’t think much about the particulars of what’s in their possession purgatory inventory. When they consider this at all, it tends to be as “stuff I should decide someday what to do with” rather than “pajamas with the Christmas tree designs,” “earrings which are too large for my tastes,” and so on.
     A secondhand merchandise store offering trade-in deals to prior customers energizes the inventory influx. Be specific in your ad messages and with your face-to-face selling: “We’re having a great sale on sleepwear. We offer credit on gently used pajamas as well as other clothes you might have stored away.” Give prompts for different specific item categories at different store visits by shoppers and you’ll start them thinking what they can bring in to your place.
     Prior customers are prime prospects because they’re familiar with your business and the used-merchandise resale process. A set of studies at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and City University of Hong Kong uncovered something else, too: People are more willing to resell items they purchased secondhand, such as from you, than equivalent items obtained unused.
     Of the reasons for this effect which were assessed by the researchers, the strongest was that purchasers feel their self-identity is reflected less clearly in resale items than in items purchased unused. This was found true when study participants were asked to imagine purchases and resales of a North Face McMurdo Parka, the latest model of a Nintendo Switch, and a collector’s edition of a themed LEGO set.
     The connection between willingness to dispose of items one owns and feeling of being true to the self (i.e., self-authenticity) was seen in a City, University of London and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology project. Plus, the impact was broader than on just supplying more stock for resellers. In each of a set of studies, one group of consumers was first asked to think about a situation in which they were completely being themselves. The other group was asked to think about a situation where they were not being themselves. The studies together concluded that those who had thought about not being themselves became more likely to resell their apparel, replace instead of repair broken electronics, and declutter at home.

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