Momodou Saidykhan aka Moddz has been reselling trainers for 5 years now. A passion which began alongside his studies at university and is taking the world of reselling by storm since graduating university and going full time.
Moddz discusses the strategies in which helped him stay ahead of the competition and stand out in this niche lucrative industry and hopes to inspire individuals who are in need of some inspiration from someone who has done it themselves.
The concept of sneaker reselling is based on the simple guidelines of most businesses – buy low, sell high. The idea works because of the supply and demand rule; due to the exclusivity and limited volume that is released, there’s simply not enough to fulfil the demand meaning not everyone who wants one at retail price is able to get a pair, thus pushing the resale price up. According to a Cowen & Co. analysis conducted in July 2021, the current sneaker reselling market estimates the resale industry to be worth $2 billion in North America alone and predicted to reach $30 billion globally by 2030.”
Moddz sells trainers in bulk to other resellers and saw an influx of new resellers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moddz states this is due to many young people having lost their jobs and in need of a new source of income during the pandemic. this new influx of potential clients during the pandemic helped Moddz to achieve record breaking sales!
When asked how to stand out in such a niche competitive industry, Moddz explained how leveraging his social media had a huge impact. Establishing a good social media profile that always showcases the latest stock availability will contribute to drive engagement to your business. “When it comes to social media, the first thing people can see is images. Images capture the attention of the viewer straight away, so I made sure every image shed a positive light on my business or at least generates enough interest for the viewer to want to ask and know more. What does he do and how does he do it? “. Moddz makes it clear that reselling is becoming increasingly popular within young people, therefore, staying relevant is becoming more important. He outlines these steps that may help any individual looking for advice:
1. Buy the right stock – sell the right stock.
Moddz explains buying the right stock is very vital. Most of the profit you make is made during the buying stage not the selling. It is vital that you buy stock that is sold out or will sell out for it to have a resale value. You must also buy stock that has high demand and with time, the value of that product is most likely to increase. You must protect your capital especially when starting out where capital may not be so big so buying the right things and in the right quantity can help. This can be done by trial and error; see what sells fast for you and what does not and then buy more of what sold fast. It can be as simple as that.
2. Trust is vital
In this industry, it’s always tempting to sell fakes or to rip off clients. It is extremely crucial to understand that if you want to succeed in this industry, you must build a commendable reputation early on and always honour your word. Any negative customer experience that is based on you not doing your due diligence on the product you are selling can be devastating for you. If you cannot be trusted then it can be difficult to progress, so always practice being a trustworthy individual from the beginning seeing as you may be dealing with substantial figures one day. Moddz explains how this has helped him be able to complete deals worth over six figures when the clients have peace of mind over whom they are dealing with.
3. Always look for new opportunity
According to Moddz, a lot of people in the reselling industry struggle to scale their businesses due to the lack of business growth strategies. Decipher what more is possible. Moddz says “you must find someone who is doing better than you in the industry and reach out to see if there’s anything they could advice you on. It will not be easy but eventually someone will inspire you to look at things differently and hopefully provide you with valuable insights and habits. ”
4. Treat every potential client the same.
A business deal is always possible with respect and attention. Moddz says it’s very important to treat every possible client with the same respect no matter their status or spending habits and build customer relationships to increase customer retention. He started off catering to B2C consumers by conducting personal home deliveries to meet customer needs to then operate on a B2B platform shipping globally in bulk. One big mistake a lot of beginners make is that they focus more on delivering their best service to individuals with status or celebrities on Instagram, etc. rather than keeping that same mentality with just regular clients. Most of the time, these individuals of status will try to take advantage of you to get free products and in return offer you some promotions for your business. And surely, at times this is amazing and could give you great exposure, but the same respect and eagerness must be shown to all individuals that show any interest of purchasing from your small business as these are the individuals directly contributing to your success.”
With these steps, Moddz was able to secure huge investments from Pinnacle Group with the idea of setting up a multimillion-pound online luxury goods marketplace, ‘Elusive’. Elusive focuses on selling directly to consumers from their website and Moddz explains how proud he is to be a part of this having been in the reselling industry for four years. “Never did I think an opportunity like this could come, however, I always pursued it. Without that desire to seek new opportunities, this would never have happened.
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Momodou Saidykhan discusses how to stay relevant in the competitive reselling industry