Walmart (WMT +2.15%) shoppers can now browse pre-owned apparel when they visit the retailer's e-commerce site. The company this week announced a partnership with thredUP, which describes itself as the world's leading secondhand clothing website, to offer its products on Walmart.com.
"We are absolutely seeing this as an opportunity to support a bigger portion of our customers' closets," a Walmart executive told CNBC. ThredUP markets slightly worn apparel for women and kids, often at discounts of as much as 90%.
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Walmart's e-commerce business was a standout performer in its last quarterly report. Sales jumped 74% in the fiscal first quarter, which was heavily impacted by COVID-19. The chain had been predicting growth in that channel of around 30% before the pandemic drove traffic toward its shopping sites.
Walmart had been working to dramatically expand its online offering even before that spike. The chain was forced to mark down some apparel products that missed their seasonal demand windows in late March and early April. This new deal with thredUP will allow it to minimize that writedown threat in the future while at the same time giving shoppers many more value-based products to peruse.
