The refurbished specialist Back Market celebrates its 10th anniversary

Back Market celebrated its tenth anniversary on Thursday, September 19, in Paris. Symbolizing the change in dimension taken by the large French group specializing in refurbished electronic products, founded in November 2014, the speakers at the event spoke in English, in order to satisfy the invited foreign press, as well as Internet users, particularly Americans, who were able to attend online. And for good reason: the United States is now the company’s second market (around 20% of its revenues).

For Thibaud Hug de Larauze, co-founder of Back Market and still at the helm of the company, this meeting was less about taking stock of the past decade than about giving a direction for the next one.

Looking back, the company can boast of having attracted 15 million customers for 30 million devices sold, and of having established itself in 18 countries in Europe, America, and Asia. After going through a downturn in 2022, which forced it to lay off 13% of its workforce – the latter has since risen almost identically, with 700 employees in total – Back Market has moved forward again, with a business volume of 2.2 billion euros in 2023, up 32% compared to 2022, for a turnover of 320 million (+ 45%).

Motivated by low prices

In Europe, the company is expected to be profitable for the first time in 2024. “Before, growth was what mattered most to financial circles [whichallowedthestart-uptoraisemorethan700millioneurosbetween2021and2022)[cequiapermisàlastart-updeleverplusde700 millionsd’eurosentre 2021et 2022) Since then, we have had to adapt to the fact that money has become much more expensive.”explains the manager. Particularly because of the rise in interest rates in recent years.

In France, around 30% of phones in circulation are reconditioned (compared to 5% in 2015), according to the company.“If we do our job well, counting only the United States, Japan and Europe, we are talking about a market of almost a billion people.”explains Thibaud Hug de Larauze. The margin for improvement is considerable, since in the United States less than 15% of phones sold are reconditioned.

According to a NielsenIQ report published in June, the winds are favorable, with a slowdown in the new market, while refurbished products are progressing (+1.5 points in France in 2021 and 2022). Another survey proposed by the refurbisher YesYes indicates that 40% of French people who have never acquired second-hand electronic products say they are ready to take the plunge, motivated first by low prices.

You have 35.57% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.