The RealReal Reports Preliminary First Quarter Results - Seite 2

Interest in consignment remains strong. While social distancing prevents in-person White Glove appointments, the company has turned to virtual appointments to continue delivering personalized consignment consultations and support people monetizing the assets in their homes during these uncertain times. The RealReal has conducted thousands of virtual appointments since launching the service and will likely integrate virtual appointments into its supply acquisition strategy going forward.

The RealReal’s vendor channel, where it sources supply from business sellers, was also resilient in March, as interest from business sellers and brands seeking distribution capacity and demand increased.

“We were off to a strong start in Q1, on track to meet or exceed our Q1 guidance. As the world changed with the spread of COVID-19, we were impacted by the new reality emerging from shelter-in-place and social distancing mandates,” said Julie Wainwright, CEO of The RealReal. “We’ve worked to adapt our business, ensuring the safety of our team members, consignors, and customers by following the guidelines provided by public health organizations as well as government officials. We continue to work to identify additional ways to improve on these measures.”

The RealReal has implemented numerous preventative measures to align with CDC and local government guidelines and ensure the health and safety of its community, including:

• Temporarily closing stores and Luxury Consignment Offices;
• Suspending all in-person White Glove consignment appointments;
• Enforcing social distancing in its e-commerce centers, including staggered shifts, reduced staff onsite resulting in operations significantly below full capacity, taped off six-foot boundaries, training, signage throughout every facility, etc.;
• Cleaning and sanitizing during every hour of every shift and dedicating equipment to individual use;
• Providing personal protective equipment (PPE), including daily kits for every onsite employee with gloves and a mask;
• Providing a transportation allowance for private transportation to work;
• Cleaning items received for consignment, including steam cleaning fine jewelry and watches, heat steaming ready-to-wear, and wiping down accessories and handbags;
• Consulting directly with a third-party medical expert to validate approach and ensure every precaution is being taken to keep onsite teams safe.

“Given the unknown duration of the pandemic, we’ve focused on reducing operating expenses and preserving liquidity to weather the near-term challenges and ensure we are well positioned to capitalize on the significant opportunity in front of us,” continued Wainwright. “I am confident the strength of our balance sheet, customer satisfaction, healthy traffic trends, and buyer and consignor repeat rates, along with continuing progress in technology initiatives that support efficiently scaling our operations, will position us to bounce back quickly once the economy stabilizes.”