Outdoor retailer REI has just announced a new recommerce scheme which encourages customers to trade in their old REI clothes, hiking boots and sleeping bags.
The scheme allows REI’s Co-op members to trade in their secondhand lightly used gear in exchange for a digital gift card to spend on new products and old. Utilising recommence as the central element of a loyalty scheme is a strategy that offers both huge environmental and commercial upside.
Recommerce is just one of the many ways in which REI is stepping up its fight for the environment. The company is now rethinking all core business functions in favour of more mindful consumption.
How does the REI Recommcerce Used Gear Scheme Work?
REI offers a trade-in process that is effortless for customers, offering the ability to ‘skip the photos, long forms, and lengthy consignment process.’ For the time being, only account holding customers who are a part of REI’s Co-op membership will be able to take part in the recommerce scheme.
- Step 1: Members look through their closets for used items, and then search for the products on REI’s website here.
- Step 2: REI then sends the customer packaging so that they can send back all the trade-in gear to the retailer.
- Step 3: The customer receives a digital REI gift card in their email inbox.
What Items Can Be Traded through REI Recommerce?
The following items can be traded in as part of the REI recommerce scheme, as long as everything is clean and in an excellent condition. The better the condition, the bigger the gift card:
- Jackets & pants
- Sleeping bags
- Tents
- Packs
- Hiking boots
- Running shoes
Customers can earn anywhere from $28-62 for a used sleeping bag in an excellent condition, to $19-33 for lightly worn hiking boots. For the full price estimation, you can visit REI’s website here. As long as an item isn’t one of the following, then customers can expect to receive a gift card in exchange for their used gear.
What Items Can’t Be Accepted in the REI Recommere scheme?
- Broken or damaged goods
- Things that cost less than $75 new
- Products REI has never sold
- Items more than six years old
- Electronics
- Safety gear
What happens to the used gear once it’s returned to REI?
All gear that is traded-in with the REI recommerce scheme is checked, cleaned and then put up on their website to be resold at lower prices.
Not only can customers purchase used good quality REI products for less, but REI also hopes that it encourages people to get outdoors while keeping these secondhand products out of landfills.
REI Recommerce- Commitment to mindful consumption
In addition to the new trade-in scheme, REI has been working toward zero-waste operations by the end of 2020 and challenging the outdoor industry to eliminate unnecessary packaging. They plan to increase their recycling rate to 76% across its operations, including in their headquarters, distribution centres, and stores.
REI has continued to raise the bar on sustainability for decades, through campaigns like sourcing 100% green energy for all operations, pursuing their zero-waste operations, and pushing the outdoor industry to raise the bar on product sustainability.
“At REI, our purpose is clear; to awaken a lifelong love of the outdoors, for all. We believe that if we get millions of people to love the outdoors, they will leave it better than they found it. When the next generation asks us what we did when the outdoors and the world needed us most, I want to be able to say, ‘we did our best.'”
Eric Artz, CEO, REI
For more information on the REI recommerce trade-in scheme and how you can get involved, visit their website.
Further Reading: Patagonia Recommerce and Upcycling: Worn Wear. Read More