Our tips to boost your second-hand platform

We are more inclined to offer products from a brand that we trust, and for which we have a capital of sympathy when it is not a real attachment!

For a long time, trust in the brand itself was enough since commerce was operated via physical stores, whether single or multi-brand. But today, the need for reassurance is increasingly falling on second-hand platforms, whose number has exploded.

Whether generalists (Leboncoin), specialists, or even niche players (Chrono24), these platforms have worked to reintermediate their sector. By making a wide choice of second-hand products accessible through multi-criteria searches, and by providing access to bargains at key moments, they have won over a growing number of users.

They expect more and more added value and a personalized experience throughout the transaction chain.

However, one of its links remains particularly tricky to manage. It closes everything that has happened upstream (research, comparison, product selection, etc.), concentrates financial issues and can be rather anxiety-provoking for the user: payment.

A trusted third-party solution for online payments can have a significant impact on several levels:

1. Provide a quality customer experience and nurture conversion potential

At this decisive moment in their journey, the user of a second-hand platform is looking for a payment experience that involves as little friction and irritants as possible.

Some operations remain unavoidable, but a step that drags on, an entry that has to be repeated, checks that are too meticulous or a process that is generally too complicated will make him hesitate. When it's simply not giving up on your purchase project.

This is a fatal outcome, especially given that the products and brands had succeeded in appealing to him and convincing him to reach this final stage!

If the platform relies on a trusted third party whose brand is recognised by the market, it mechanically increases its conversion rate, as many hesitations are removed by the reassurance effect.

2. Establish "extended trust" through escrow portability

Let's go further, because beyond the comfort of using a given platform, online shoppers today are multi-users. For example, when viewing ads on multiple platforms, they can make a last-minute decision on impulse.

They need to be able to find the same quality of user experience and consultation comfort on the various sites they visit, which are often added to their favourites. Above all, they need the same level of transactional security!

That's why some solutions like the app Tripartie allow them to create a single user account, save payment and delivery preferences that will be valid on several second-hand platforms, as well as their digital wallet. This "portability" of the trusted third party is very virtuous, since it facilitates the filling of the basket at the end of the journey.

To learn more about this topic of trust, you can watch our webinar "C2C Marketplace: How to Create an Environment of Trust".

3. Don't compromise the customer perception of your best brands

Today, there are thousands of marketplaces, and the opportunities to buy at any given time have multiplied. But at the same time, reassurance is lacking, and few potential buyers know what level of trust to place in a particular player, unless they've used it before.

This is where the payment solution offered by a trusted third party known for its reliability, features and guarantees, can facilitate conversion. "When you know that the user experience will be satisfactory and that you can, in this case, order and pay with one click, this clearly makes the act of purchasing easier," explains Andréas Lambropoulos, CPO of Tripartie. "A platform that doesn't add too much transactional complexity necessarily preserves the attractiveness potential of the brands on it," he continues.

4. Work concretely on your loyalty policy

By providing convenience, personalization, and security to their users, platforms not only give them a great opportunity to complete their purchase, but also to come back. And in any case, it saves them from thinking about going elsewhere when they consider new second-hand purchases.

This observation must certainly be qualified according to the customer segment addressed. We know that the youngest users are fond of exploration: they like to test, compare and can easily fall for it under the impulse of a limited quantity, a great price, the rarity of an item...

However, once you get used to the payment solution of a platform, you save time in using it and in the end you only retain the pleasure of having bought (well) !

"The user remembers being able to pay for their purchase easily and quickly, without worrying about security issues or the risk of fraud. He doesn't come to worry and he will always value the fact that his platform has thought of a sum of small things, small details, for him. This is also where they measure the added value of these neo-distributors! Andreas concludes.

At this point, the repurchase is no longer a sales effort, but the simple reiteration of something that has already gone well.

After that, nothing can ever be taken for granted and there remains the "sporting hazard" of discovering the right products from the right brands at attractive prices! This is where the platform's marketing needs to do its job: make itself visible to sellers and push them to offer good deals, on the one hand. And on the other hand, to bring in users who are convinced that they can find what they are looking for.

We can therefore see that a recognized trusted third party contributes very directly to the creation of value for second-hand platforms that choose it.

That's why, if you haven't already, now more than ever is the time to look into it in 2024. Because by securing the transactions of your marketplace, you are actually doing much more!

Are you launching a second-hand project?

Tripartie enables retailers, marketplaces and large companies to enter the peer-to-peer and second-hand market rapidly, without operational and reputational risk.

Tripartie has a trust-based approach and provides a set of tools to ensure secure, compliant transactions and efficient resolution of user disputes. Book a demo!

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