As part of its ongoing effort to build a more efficient organization and reach profitability by early 2024, luxury resale platform The RealReal has revamped its seller experience. Called “RealService,” the enhanced concierge-style service offers sellers a more personalized experience that is, in part, a bid by the platform to secure more high-value inventory.
RealService includes the addition of a dedicated Consignor Concierge team to support sellers through every step of the consignment process. In addition to having an assigned Luxury Manager who will help sellers know what, when and how to sell, and a team of experts who authenticate, price and list every item on behalf of the consignor, the Consignor Concierge team also will serve as a designated point of contact to support and assist customers with any questions regarding the process. Other new product features, including a Resale Insights Center and a Handbag Pricing Estimator, draw on the platform’s decade of selling data to help consigners find success.
“We have exceptionally high standards when it comes to service. However, in recent years, as we continued to grow rapidly year over year, we faced some challenges when it came to delivering this level of service that our customers expect from us,” said Rati Sahi Levesque, President and COO of The RealReal in a statement. “By prioritizing, investing in and providing a dedicated concierge team to each and every consignor, we can continue to provide the luxury service that we sought to deliver. Between their designated team and access to as much rich data and expertise as we can, we’re not only ensuring that confidence that consignors need to sell with us, but we’re giving them the education and opportunity to make even more informed shopping decisions, in both the primary and secondary markets.”
RealService, as well as additional enhancements to the buyer experience, are being powered by technology from Salesforce, including:
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- Sales Cloud, which helps The RealReal use its data to tailor every customer interaction for both buyers and sellers. The RealReal can now access a full view of a buyer’s purchase history as well as their bookmarked items to help better anticipate customer needs and personalize every experience. Additionally, The RealReal can now create a 360-degree experience for sellers, including by scheduling virtual appointments at home or in-person at any of its retail locations; and
- Marketing Cloud, which allows The RealReal to use real-time data to build personalized customer journeys and enhance account engagement from one platform across channels such as email and social media.
“The resale landscape is always shifting, and the way people engage with consignment has changed dramatically even in just the past few years,” said Orr Shakked, Chief Marketing Officer at The RealReal in a statement. “We know that to expand the resale marketplace we have to make the process of selling as frictionless as possible, and we’ve set out to make the selling experience easier. With the help of Salesforce’s suite of capabilities, we’ve been able to truly customize the seller experience by curating a more personal and integrated service.”
The RealReal has been hyper-focused on achieving profitability in the past year as its share price has nosedived amid mounting shareholder pressure. Other recent initiatives toward this goal include exiting the beauty category, the appointment of new CEO, the elimination of 7% of its workforce and the closure of four of its brick-and-mortar stores. “Since day one, The RealReal has been a trailblazer in creating a luxury experience for their growing community of buyers and sellers,” said Sarah Franklin, Chief Marketing Office at Salesforce in a statement. “Salesforce is empowering The RealReal with the data, automation and AI needed to streamline internal processes while putting their customers at the heart of everything they do.”
