Having helped set up the Certified Refurbished Program at Amazon, Kilian Kaminski became disillusioned with the marketplace’s approach which ultimately led him to set up the refurbed marketplace along with Peter Windischhofer and Jurgen Riedl.
The problem at Amazon was that they want to be the ‘Everything Store’ and so offer refurbished devices, but only if you specifically search for them – Amazon’s main business is to sell consumers new products and they don’t routinely pop up an alternative for a refurbished device as an option. They just cater for the small number of consumers that choose to go looking for a more environmentally friendly option.
refurbed is a marketplace that offer like new devices which have been professionally regenerated for the conscious consumer. Only professional refurbishes are able to sell on the site and these will be businesses turning over 100s if not 1000s of items per day – often specialising in a very tight vertical – maybe a particular manufacturer’s smartphone or laptops from one specific vendor.
Specialising is key to success, often only a couple of components may need to be replaced when refurbishing a device and being able to bulk buy in massive quantities keeps costs down for businesses. Quality devices often come from large companies so often it will be large quantities of the same model, but companies set up for refurbishing these devices need a robust route to market to resell at scale and that’s where refurbed comes in.
Operating in 13 countries, including Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland, refurbed have announced today the appointment of Jonny Ng as Chief Marketing Officer. Previously responsible for Zalando’s global marketing strategy & communications between 2018 and 2021 he assumed the position of Chief Marketing Officer at refurbed at the beginning of September. From his time at Zalando, where he was responsible for 17 European markets, Ng brings a wide range of international know-how from the areas of digital marketing and brand strategy, as well as a plethora of experience in building digital marketplaces.
refurbed looks back on a very successful start-up phase and has built a strong foundation in both data-based marketing and impact storytelling over the past years. The upcoming phase will be particularly exciting as it offers a unique opportunity to make sustainable consumption mainstream, and to build and expand Europe’s largest sustainable online marketplace
– Jonny Ng, Chief Marketing Officer, refurbed
Jonny is the missing link in our leadership team and brings not only an extreme amount of experience and creativity, but also the right spirit. His diverse set of values, his high standards and his international background are a perfect fit for our corporate philosophy, and we are looking forward to launching the next growth phase together with him
– Peter Windischhofer, Co-Founder and CEO, refurbed
