StockX has made the decision to keep its authentification centers operational during Covid-19
Source: StockX’s Resell Market is Stronger Than Ever During Covid-19
A few weeks ago I wrote a post on Hibbett Sports staying open during the early wave of Corona-virus reports.
SIG | Susquehanna, LLP Delivers Detailed Report On $HIBB Hibbett Sports’ Failure to Close Stores
In it I explained that while Hibbett Sports and City Gear are unique in that many of their stores are located in small towns that may not have the same exposure to COVID-19, that if only one of those employees encounters someone and takes the virus back to their small town those counties and areas aren’t set up to fight any outbreaks whatsoever. I wrote the post hoping they would shut the stores down.
Highsnobiety discusses that StockX is still functioning at a high level. I believe it is, but there is a danger in this. I got a text from a peer yesterday who is still shipping kicks from his inventory. We are both full time resellers, but we operate in completely different ways. He typically carries between 300-500 pair in inventory at all times. I don’t carry any inventory at all. My business, $700,000+ in 2019 functions as both research and resale. I visit multiple stores throughout the region on a daily basis looking at how the stores merchandise and mark down. It informs my writing and white papers I write on the industry.
He has a team of buyers who utilize their discounts to pick up sneakers. His business is an industry with 20-30 people involved and being paid. I operate as a one man team (find info on my sales on StockX in the post below):
The Reality of eBay Eliminating Sneaker Seller Fees and Their New December Drop Series
StockX remaining open creates a paradox. I haven’t sold anything since March 15th when stores began to close. That two weeks rings up at a loss of between 15-20,000 dollars. That’s a fairly big blow, but because I don’t keep inventory, my profit isn’t tied up in product, forcing me to continue selling to make ends meet.
Other resellers aren’t in the same place and they are probably raising and lowering prices to get those people still shopping to click. What Highsnobiety didn’t present was the steps and people touched by StockX being open.
- The seller, if they have inventory will go to the warehouse or garage or office and pick up the sneakers.
- They will pack the shoe and visit the UPS Store. The UPS Store even on a small scale will have 2 people working. With all precautions in place and in the perfect world no one will be in the store at the same time.
- The seller will give the package over to be weighed and scanned.
- The sales person for UPS will give the seller a receipt.
- The package is then taken by a driver who arrives late in the day after visiting several other locations on the route and after picking up and dropping off packages all day.
- That UPS Driver will then drop the boxes off at the processing facility.
- The sorting takes place and the box is then sent to StockX.
- StockX receives the pair and then another chain of actions begin.
That’s 4-6 times the package is being touched and in contact with other packages. Here is the problem. According to the CDC, Tape (which has similar properties to plastic) holds the virus for 2-3 days; and the virus lives on cardboard 24 hours. Unless only one person is opening, inspecting, packing and shipping the package who knows the number of people coming into contact with the box.
Now you would assume that I’d say the same thing about StockX that I’ve said about Hibbett Sports, but I’m not. What I would like to see once again is a one time pass given to small retail chains who lack strong e-commerce, EbLens and DTLR for example, to set up a working relationship with StockX to fulfill bids on the site. I wrote about this here:
The Company Reseller for Smaller Accounts | A One Time Exception for COVID-19
If StockX is still functioning then as opposed to bailing out individual resellers, why not bail out retail chains that could find themselves laying off hundreds of employees and closing stores because of COVID-19?
The retailer already has a UPS driver who is routed to the stores. You remove steps 1-4 with a store manager fulfilling orders and the UPS driver picking up on their route. StockX helps out small chains hopefully. I know this seems counter to what I said about retail stores remaining open, but it is clear that StockX is going to continue operating. Unlike a retail store though, there won’t be people trying to come up there to pass the time and hangout. StockX isn’t a store. It’s also not a warehouse so there is a more streamlined system in place.
This post is a catalyst for conversation. I give my background as evidence of how the process works. This is an opinion.
