Neiman Marcus Invests in Fashionphile to Get a Cut of Growing Pre-owned Handbag Market

Neiman Marcus wants you to buy your handbags, accessories and jewelry at its stores, of course. Then when you're ready to cash in, drop off the luxury pieces at select Neiman Marcus locations with a Fashionphile counter. Repeat. The Dallas-based retailer, acknowledging that its customers are buying pre-owned merchandise, has inserted itself directly into the growing multi-billion luxury resale market with an investment announced Wednesday.Neiman Marcus said it has purchased a minority stake in Fashionphile, an online buyer and seller of pre-owned merchandise with showrooms in Beverly Hills, San Francisco and Carlsbad, Calif. and on Madison Avenue in New York.Neiman Marcus didn't disclose the size of the investment. It was also careful to say that it won't be selling the pre-owned fashion accessories, handbags and jewelry. But it wants to make Fashionphile convenient to use and will designate some of its stores as drop-off locations. What that's going to look like is still being decided, said Neiman Marcus spokesman John Walls. "Over half of our customers already engage in pre-owned luxury, and this exclusive partnership exemplifies our commitment to providing our customers with services and offerings they want and need," said Geoffroy van Raemdonck, CEO of Neiman Marcus.The partnership will also expose younger shoppers who have embraced the secondary market in a big way to Neiman Marcus, he said.If this sounds a little familiar, it is. Neiman Marcus didn't invest in The RealReal, but it had a short partnership with Fashionphile's competitor in 2015. In that deal, the exchange was in Neiman Marcus gift cards. This time the payout is in cash. There may be additional payout methods developed later, Walls said. Twitter: @MariaHalkias  Continue reading...