In two months, Campsider has referenced 20,000 pairs of skis. And, every day, at the end of December, a hundred items are sold on this online sales platform. As the winter sports season kicks off in the French Alps, this second-hand specialist, founded in early 2021 by Arthur Rocle and Thomas Gounot, is playing big.
Because the two 26-year-old friends very quickly intend to make Campsider the Vinted of second-hand sales specializing in equipment for mountain sports. The air of time is favorable to them. Frightened by the damage of the climate crisis in the mountains, ski and hiking enthusiasts are converting to this mode of consumption that is designed to reduce their carbon footprint and “no longer want to buy the latest Gore-Tex jacket every year”believes Arthur Rocle.
Inflation inclines consumers to equip themselves at lower cost. Especially since, recalls Thomas Gounot, skiing, ” (…) one of the most expensive sports, (…) requires, on average, 800 euros of expenditure per year”. From then on, Campsider promises followers to equip themselves for a budget 60% lower than what they would spend buying new items.
A comprehensive offer
This promise attracted investors, during a fundraising of 2 million euros carried out at the beginning of 2022. Among the minority shareholders of this start-up incubated at Station F, in Paris, are, since then, the entrepreneur Marc Menasé, founder of the investment company Founders Future, Christian Jorge, co-founder of Vestiaire Collective, figure in the sale of second-hand luxury goods, Maxime Brousse, co-founder of Selency, an online flea market, and Xavier Le Gen, ruler of Solomon.
The first months of Campsider’s activity consisted in putting together an offer sufficiently credible to make a name for itself on the online sales market and to compete with physical consignment stores, including ski exchanges and, of course, Trocathlon. , the second-hand product vehicle developed for thirty years by Decathlon, the market leader in sporting goods in France. Campsider started with 5,000 products uploaded. “The first sale was that of a pair of snowshoes”recalls Mr. Gounot.
Since then, the offer has expanded, thanks to the online availability of stocks from the rental departments of mountain shops, branded items worn by athletes during tests or clothing for ski school instructors. Added to this are the products put online by private individuals. The assortment now reaches 60,000 references, including 50% hardware, 30% textiles and 20% accessories, including backpacks.
You have 33.28% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.