Back Market discusses its journey thus far and future plans
Launched in Paris in 2014 by three co-founders Thibaud Hug de Larauze (CEO), Vianney Vaute (CCO), and Quentin Le Brouster (CTO), Back Market has gone on to become a European leader in the refurbished electronics sector.
It now operates in 16 countries that include the US, France, Germany, the UK, Spain and Japan. The company currently employs over 700 employees across multiple offices with the HQ in Bordeaux.
The purpose of Back Market is to change the world for the better by offering a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to new tech, via the creation of a safe (and trustworthy) online marketplace that specialises in selling professionally refurbished electronics.
By prolonging the life on millions of consumer electronics, Back Market says that it is creating low-cost access to high quality products like refurbished iPhones, refurbished iPads, and refurbished laptops to name a few.
The Back Market story begins with the founders spotting a disconnect between refurbished sellers and consumers who didn’t know which ones to trust.
The ecosystem of refurbished sellers in each country is generally large, and the value add of these refurbished devices are often at half the price but with a warranty that basically matched new devices.
The founders realised the business potential in creating one safe space for consumers to have access to.
And so Back Market was born, building a system that buyers can trust, and aligning all quality standards of refurbished sellers to follow Back Market’s grading.
Key highlights
A notable highlight thus far has been the continued support Back Market has received throughout multiple rounds of funding, with the latest being the Series E funding raised in January, bringing the company’s value to $5.7 billion (and making it the most valuable unicorn in France).
Co-founder and CEO Thibaud Hug de Larauze said in a statement: “The support and confidence of these funds, together with our growing customer base, marks an important step in Back Market’s journey, and more importantly, for the circular economy as a whole.”
This support has allowed Back Market to launch the Back Care programme which is a network of local repair shops that honour the Back Market warranty – another step in building consumer trust in refurbished sellers, and matching the convenience of buying a brand new device.
The company has also been able to avoid 400,000 tons of CO2 emissions in the process.
Challenges
The biggest challenge, meanwhile, has always been around building consumer trust in refurbished tech – disrupting consumer behaviour to make refurbished their first choice for electronic purchases.
A company spokesperson told RTIH: “Historically, there is a negative stigma that used products have – that the consumer is left on their own if their used product fails, as the trade-off for buying it cheap in the first place.”
“However, Back Market bridges this gap by offering a minimum one-year warranty and 30-day return policy to assure new customers there is no risk when opting for refurbished.”
“The US in comparison to Europe has big players like Apple investing millions into advertising about convincing people to buy the latest gadgets, which makes older phones look dated and undesirable.”
“To combat this, Back Market has found that emphasising bargains helps to resonate with American consumers, as well as the UK as it enters a recession period. The environmental aspect has been a powerful incentive too, of course.”
Questions
In terms of the best question about Back Market asked recently by an investor and/or a customer, that would be: in the eight years of the company’s existence, what has been the most difficult part of this journey so far?
The answer is HR. “If you succeed it’s because you have a great team,” the company spokesperson commented.
“It is a lot of work to scale a company, and we’re fighting to get the best talent onboard so hiring is always challenging, whilst also getting the culture right, being able to retain talent, and then making them all work together more efficiently etc.”
They added: “The more you scale, the more you must reorganise and adapt the way you work and your processes to your size.”
“There are a few thresholds e.g., at 30 people, the culture cannot be informal anymore, then at 100, then 250 people, the culture has to evolve, and the way of working has to change to be more fitting.”
“You must constantly review processes and reflect values of the people that are helping you. Symptoms from working in a team of 30 showed signs of misalignment in communication, thus more processes were coming into place.
The future
Finally, what can we expect to see from Back Market for the rest of 2022 and into 2023?
“As the refurbished electronics market continues to grow and have a bright outlook for the foreseeable future, we will focus upon building our messaging around quality, sustainability, convenience and affordability,” the spokesperson said.
They concluded: “New players are rising in the market as they see the increasing demand from consumers.”
“Back Market will strive towards becoming the go to marketplace for everything refurbished and look towards expanding into new geographies in 2023, in order to become the preferred brand globally.”
