Galeries Lafayette group to close down second-hand luxury e-tailer InstantLuxe

By

Marion Deslandes

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Nov 14, 2018

InstantLuxe is set to close down soon. According to FashionNetwork.com sources, the French e-tail site for second-hand luxury products (accessories, leather goods, jewellery and watches) is due to cease trading in the next few weeks. The decision was taken a few weeks ago by the site’s owner, the Galeries Lafayette department store group, and will be officially announced to InstantLuxe customers in a few days.

InstantLuxe was founded in 2009 by Yann Le Floc’h, and was bought in 2016 by the Galeries Lafayette group, as the latter sought to boost its e-tail presence and gain a foothold in the growing second-hand luxury goods market. The department store group then gave the site a physical presence in Paris, opening InstantLuxe retail corners at the BHV Marais department store in winter 2017, and at the Galeries Lafayette’s Haussmann branch last May. Recently, InstantLuxe launched a luxury article rental service, like that offered by Panoply, another website with a physical presence at the Galeries Lafayette.

Operating in the high-end second-hand market, with competitors like Vestiaire Collective and Vide Dressing, InstantLuxe has not reportedly managed to reach critical mass, and is said to be losing money.

The website’s ten employees are concerned about the closure, and it is thought they will be offered new jobs within the Galeries Lafayette group, as an internal re-employment solution. The future destination of founder Yann Le Floc’h has not been decided yet.

After Galeries Lafayette bought a 100% stake in InstantLuxe, the group’s e-tail strategy took a swift step forward when it acquired French mail order/e-tail company La Redoute in 2017. La Redoute is large enough to be able to help Galeries Lafayette reach the next level with its e-commerce business. It is worth remembering the department store group still owns BazarChic, an event sales website active in the fashion, fine foods, home decoration and travel sectors, which was also bought in 2016.