Back Market, What The Hell is That?
An interview of the co-founders of Back Market.
How we pitch it to our moms:
Back Market is a magical place online, where you can find thousands of refurbished tech devices, verified by experts. We sell them with huge discounts, and a 6 months minimum warranty.
How we pitch it to ourselves:
Back Market is a strong and mainstream alternative to the “brand new devices overload”. A new and more eco-friendly way to buy tech. It is more than just a business. It’s a project.
How we try not to pitch it, ever:
Back Market is a marketplace that connects trusted refurbishing factories with customers.
How does a market place create value in the mobile industry?
Our role is to make used devices (smartphones, but not exclusively) more accessible, trustworthy and sexy. The marketplace model is perfect for that. By connecting dozens of refurbishers, we ensure access to hundreds of thousands of devices, we have an exclusive point of view on quality, and we can focus on great UX and branding.
Though in many ways, Back Market doesn’t “create” value per se, we extend and sustain used electronics’ value. We make them desirable again, to the eyes of customers. That’s the true revolution in the mobile industry, where everybody is obsessed with the last new gadget.
At the beginning of your journey, you marketed the eco-friendliness of Back Market. Now you are more on the circular economy concept. Why did you flip?
We wouldn’t oppose “eco-friendliness” and “circular economy”. Those two concepts are deeply nested when it comes to tech. Because we put tech devices in the circular economy, we diminish their environmental impact. We create more local jobs, we fight against over-production, etc. That is what makes our products eco-friendly.
In a way, our role is to turn “ugly” tech devices into “good” ones, through circular economy. It’s almost a moral fight. We call this “Redemption through Circulation”.
Samsung or Apple?
Fairphone
Why our readers should immediately stop reading the best newsletter ever to visit your website?
They should not, really.
*This is a personal message to you, reader of the best newsletter ever:*
Take your time, finish your reading, click. We just ask you to think of us next time your microwave or smartphone dies.
(full disclosure: this slow-commerce message has not been approved in any way by our head of acquisition).
Something special to share with our community?
3 things, because we feel generous:
1) The best Facebook page ever made
2) The most indispensable work-tool ever (after slack)
3) One of our favorite gifjoke
