Products with authentication are worth more

Product authentication ensures the credibility of fashion items in the resale market, protecting both buyers and resellers.

Product authentication involves verifying the authenticity and quality of products being sold in the secondary market, such as pre-owned or vintage fashion items.

The fashion industry, particularly high-end luxury brands, is susceptible to counterfeiting, with fake replicas flooding the market. In this context, authentication fosters trust, maintains brand reputation, and enhances market transparency. Ultimately it creates a more secure and reliable marketplace for pre-owned fashion.

What consumers want

A recent survey¹ of consumers that connected with products digitised by Certilogo reveals the changing behaviour of consumers when it comes to resale and the value of product authentication. In particular:

• Almost 1 in 3 of consumers buy or sell pre-loved fashion every month;
• 70% of them do it at least once per year;
• 39% of consumers expect to spend at least 25% of their annual investment in fashion on pre-loved products;
• 85% of consumers consider it to be very or extremely important that a product can prove its authenticity when being purchased (new or pre-used);
• Over 1 in 2 consumers expect to pay at least 40% less than its average market value for a pre-loved product that can't be authenticated;
• 36% of them intend to resell their purchase when they no longer need it - more than any other method of disposal;
• Nearly half of consumers consider it to be important that purchases be easy to resell. 

Easy-to-authenticate products retain greater value when sold second-hand

The data above suggest some conclusions. For example, motivated by the opportunity to recover value from their acquisitions when they no longer desire them, consumers are already considering how they will dispose of their products at the moment of purchase. The majority of consumers intend to resell the product, choosing it over swapping, donating it or recycling it.

For these reasons, they are already attentive to which brands have a higher appeal in the resale market and will be easier to sell for the maximum value.

As a consequence, products that are easiest to resell will prove increasingly desirable. Be that down to the demand for the product, but also the ease to make the product listing or authenticate the product. Authentication is really a game-changer in the resale market. Indeed, consumers are concerned about the risk of buying fake products and are reluctant to pay a product's true pre-loved market value unless it can be authenticated.

Those products that offer simple, robust and easy-to-use authentication will prove far more desirable to buyers for their ability to build trust. However, resellers are also driven toward product authentication because it improves their ability to retain greater value. 

Fashion resale, when organised well, is good for everyone involved. In fact, it also benefits brands, as well as the planet, by promoting sustainability. And among the elements most conducive to a great resale structure are definitely connected products and digital IDs.

If you want to learn more about fashion resale, download our white paper “The future of fashion resale”.  

Authentication-powered products elevate their value when sold second-hand enhancing consumer engagement, sustainability, digital innovation and brand protection. Discover all the solutions for the fashion industry or contact us for any inquiries. 

¹ Source: Certilogo Analytics. Data from a Certilogo consumer survey conducted between 14/07/2022-31/08/2022 on 900 consumers that had verified an authentic product, responding to the question "what would you like to do with products that you no longer use anymore?".  And data from a Certilogo consumer survey conducted between 03/03/2023-20/04/2023 on 539 consumers that had verified an authentic product, responding to the questions: "how important is it that a product can prove its authenticity when buying new or used fashion?" and "how much less would you pay for a pre-used fashion product if it can’t prove its authenticity?".