Beni has emerged as a key player in the secondhand marketplace with its innovative iOS app and strategic resale partnerships. With resale projected to grow 9x faster than the broader clothing retail space by 2027, and with 60% of that growth expected to come from new-to-resale shoppers, Beni is ushering in a new generation of thrifters by providing unparalleled access to a diverse range of secondhand finds.
Sarah Pinner stands at the forefront as the Co-Founder and CEO of Beni, a company that's revolutionizing the way we approach secondhand shopping. Under Pinner's leadership, Beni has forged new partnerships with major players in the resale industry, including Poshmark, Patagonia WornWear, ThredUp, and Treet, significantly expanding the reach and impact of the platform.
"To make resale the norm, we aim to meet shoppers where they already shop and show them relevant resale alternatives," said Sarah Pinner, CEO of Beni. "Our work with Vestiaire Collective, The RealReal and eBay, along with our newest partners, means unrivaled access to resale deals for our users. Beni is not only reshaping the landscape of secondhand shopping; it's evolving into the premier gateway to a world where purchasing used is as effortless as buying new."
With the simple click of a button, Beni's app intercepts online shopping searches and redirects customers to similar products available on leading resale sites. The app's user-friendly interface and advanced features, such as Beni Search and Beni Alerts, enhance the shopping experience.
Beni's business model is as savvy as it is consumer-centric. The first-of-its-kind search engine generates revenue through affiliate marketing relationships with resale marketplaces, earning commission fees for driving traffic to these sites. This symbiotic ecosystem benefits all parties involved—shoppers find the best deals, resale sites connect with the right customers, and Beni thrives as a facilitator of these transactions.
Join us as we delve into an exclusive interview with Sarah Pinner, Co-Founder and CEO of Beni, where she shares her insights on the Beni iOS app, fostering sustainability in the fashion industry, and her vision for the future of secondhand shopping.
1. Can you tell us about the journey that led to the creation of the Beni iOS App and its significance in the resale market?
One of our core pillars at Beni is to “meet shoppers where they are.” As mobile shopping grows, we know that many of our users often start their shopping journey on mobile. The app allows us to better serve mobile-first shoppers. Through the app, we enable users to install our flagship product, the browser extension, on their Safari iOs browser and to search directly across Beni’s database of resale through the search platform in the app. As with all of Beni’s tools, the iOs App is important for the resale market because it better allows Beni to bring new-to-resale shoppers to the market. According to thredUP’s Resale Report, 60% of the growth of online resale will come from these new-to-resale shoppers.
2. With Beni being first-to-market in the online resale aggregation space in 2021, what strategies have contributed to its rapid growth and extensive partnership network?
The strategy for Beni has always been to build alongside resale marketplaces. These companies have done the heavy lifting of making resale available online and Beni’s goal is to ensure that their incredible inventory is surfaced – and easily accessible – to the right users. In large part it is this understanding of our partners’ needs that has helped us to grow quickly and build such an extensive network. The investment we’ve made in our database infrastructure has allowed us to grow. It’s no small feat to ingest, normalize, and keep updating 200M listings. By investing in and building this technology, Beni is uniquely able to partner with marketplaces.
3. Could you elaborate on how the new features and functionalities of Beni, such as the Mobile Extension and Beni Search, enhance the user experience for secondhand shoppers?
We want to meet shoppers where they are. The new features we’ve built all enable Beni to do this. For example, we heard from our users that sometimes they have a specific type of item in mind, let’s say a North Face puffer vest, and they already know they want to buy it secondhand. This lead to the creation of Beni Search. Now shoppers can directly access Beni’s aggregated database, saving them the hassle of searching on each platform individually.
This pairs well with the Alerts, which allows shoppers to search for specific items and be alerted by email when new listings are found.
Additionally, the Beni’s browser extension, which tags along with users while they're shopping on mainline sites, brings amazing resale deals to them even when they might not be searching for a specific item or thinking about secondhand options.
4. With the integration of major partners like Poshmark, ThredUp, and Patagonia's WornWear, how does Beni ensure it provides the most comprehensive range of products to its users?
In addition to providing the largest database of apparel resale listings, Beni has a search algorithm that is designed for and built to effectively search across resale inventory. Oftentimes resale listings only include generic descriptions like “black cotton dress,” which makes it difficult to find the brand or style of dress with keyword search only. To address this, Beni combines text search with an in-house image matching algorithm, comparing dress images with those in our database. This ensures we can present all potential options matching the user's preferences. Simply put, if it exists, we can find it.
5. Resale is growing exponentially in the retail industry. How does Beni plan to continue leading and innovating in this space going forward?
Beni has effectively established the "pipes" within online resale, and we're now considering how to leverage this infrastructure to expand resale options across more shopping platforms. We're currently exploring opportunities to achieve this and are thrilled to remain the "connective tissue" between ecommerce and recommerce.
6. What role do you see technological advancements playing in Beni's future evolution, especially regarding artificial intelligence and machine learning in curating personalized shopping experiences?
In many respects, Beni owes its existence to AI/ML tools, which have been integral since our inception. Given the messy nature of resale data, primarily comprising one-of-a-kind items with varying product information and lacking SKU numbers, our search tools rely on text and image matching algorithms. Currently, we utilize these algorithms to provide curated secondhand options based on user searches. We're now investigating ways to enhance these curated results further by incorporating personalized data, such as frequently visited brands.
7. Lastly, can you discuss the envisioned impact of Beni's referral program and how incentivizing users can contribute to ending fast fashion?
Beni is intentionally designed to fill a gap in the conversation around fast fashion. Prior to Beni, the conversation would go something like this: “Fast fashion is bad and you should try shopping secondhand! Ok here is a paragraph long guide to how to start shopping secondhand - good luck.” Now, with Beni, advocating for secondhand shopping as a solution to combat fast fashion is as easy as recommending the app. To facilitate this transition, we've introduced our referral program, incentivizing users to share Beni—a straightforward, no-cost tool—with others seeking to shift their purchases away from fast fashion.