Boohoo founder Carol Kane has told Retail Week the fashion group plans to roll out a resale platform for each of its brands.

Carol Kane Boohoo joint chief executive showroom shot 3

Boohoo’s Carol Kane has spoken out about the retailer’s plans for its resale platform concept

Boohoo announced in February that it would be launching a PrettyLittleThing resale platform in the UK.

The platform, which will operate through an app, is due to be up and running “in the next couple of months”.

The retailer has now said it will go one step further and launch resale platforms across each of its 13 brands, which include Miss Pap, NastyGal, BoohooMan, Debenhams and Karen Millen.

“The first biggest thing we’re doing is on the PrettyLittleThing resale site,” Kane told Retail Week.

“If that works, we’re going to really plan that to carbon copy and then we’ll be rolling that out across other brands. It’s a retail site where anyone can sell product from any brand, not just our brand.

“However, if you have a PrettyLittleThing item and you log in, you don’t have to upload photos or a description, it will upload everything for you. So that’s quite exciting for us – it’s our first major move into reselling to continue the life cycle of a product.”

The app will be differentiated from competitors through customer access to PrettyLittleThing’s product database, meaning any PLT-branded items do not have to be uploaded by the user.

“We haven’t decided in all honesty,” Kane added when asked if the platforms would be united or act as individual resale sites per brand.

“The technology will be in having that brand and not having to take photos of it or add a description, which is different from other resellers – where you’re taking a picture, you have to describe it, you have to upload it yourself – it will plug into the back-end system where the image and everything is stored, so that’s where it differentiates itself.”

This marks the most recent move Boohoo has made into the second-hand economy as the retailer seeks more sustainable options for the future.

Its Oasis brand announced last month that it was partnering with resale site Thrift+ and rental platform Hirestreet to give customers a more sustainable and affordable way of wearing its occasionwear items.

Kane added that having these options, as well as resale sites for each brand, would potentially help older shoppers who are not as familiar with second-hand platforms such as Depop and Vinted.

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