Label Emmaüs created the first non-profit marketplace in 2016. Its catalog is based on products from players in the sustainable and inclusive economy. In total, no less than 1.1 million items from reuse were offered second hand. The social platform has diversified into tech products thanks to partners such as Atelier du Bocage (computers, smartphones, printers, household appliances, etc.). This environmental cooperative claims the status of the largest player in the social economy in mobile telephony with 380,000 phones reconditioned in 2022. On the occasion of the National Repair Days organized by HOP (Stop planned obsolescence) and the Make.org Foundation from October 20 to 22, we take stock with Céline Motte, co-director of the marketplace from Label Emmaüs.
Cécile Motte – We offer all types of objects. Refurbished tech is not the best-selling item on Label Emmaüs. We mainly sell books, decoration and second-hand clothes, with tech and household appliances representing only a tiny part of our turnover. That said, we are strengthening our position on these products through our partners. We have an operation of marketplace : the merchant selects his products and we have around ten tech merchants who sell on other platforms like BackMarket. We have a real objective to make this offer known.
Most of these are donations, but they also buy second-hand items and recondition them with employees undergoing reintegration. What you need to know is that Label Emmaüs is above all an e-commerce training and reintegration project. And that’s the difficulty for us in finding other merchants who follow this logic.
Concretely, you benefit from a minimum guarantee (12 months, editor’s note) and “satisfied or refunded”. We also offer different categories of product condition like others. Our commitments are respected, we ensure that customers do not have any unpleasant surprises when receiving their smartphone. We can boast a low return rate of less than 4%.
This is an operation launched by one of our sellers on a specific smartphone, an Xperia in this case. He had a large stock of smartphones and we imagined this operation. For every smartphone purchased, a smartphone was given to someone in need.
We explain to our customers how our prices are calculated: 50% goes to supply, 25% to repair and refurbishment, 15% to professional training and integration, and 10% to order preparation. We may be a little more expensive than others, but by purchasing from us, you are participating in the training and reintegration effort.