Rarely does a business hit the bullseye at the right time so much as the refurbed marketplace, an Austrian technology refurbishment-scale up.
Launching in 2017 by its three co-founders, Peter Windischhofer, Kilian Kaminski and Jürgen Riedl in Vienna, Austria, it ticked the boxes of consumer sentiment changing and becoming ever more environmentally conscious and at the same time building through the pandemic when physical retail was shut to emerge from lockdowns just as a war in Eastern Europe drove energy prices skywards resulting in constrained spend.
Today refurbed have announced their stratospheric growth has now achieved €1bn in sales across all of its seven markets, including Austria, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Denmark and The Netherlands. This solidifies refurbed’s place as one of the leading marketplaces for refurbished technology in Europe. Austria and Ireland rank the highest per capita in Europe when it comes to buying more sustainable technology from the marketplace.
Cutting to the chase, if you wish to become a business supplier the refurbed marketplace, you can apply here. You’ll need to have a EU entity with a valid EU VAT registration certificate, Be able to provide great product quality & customer service, and Undergo an internal document review before going live on refurbed. This does leave companies based in the UK out in the cold as far as refurbed goes, unless your business also has a presence in an EU country.
Compared to the enormous amount of waste generated by purchasing new technology, refurbed offers users a more environmentally friendly alternative. Refurbed has experienced tremendous growth since inception in 2017, with this year to date showing over 2.5x year-on-year growth, with an over 150% increase in sales.This follows a trend seen in previous for the company, with similar figures recorded for 2021 vs 2022.
The refurbed marketplace growth has shown that the European consumer is becoming increasingly aware of the problematic working conditions, growing e-waste productions and CO2-intensive supply chains involved in buying new tech devices. A recent study commissioned by refurbed and conducted by the renowned Fraunhofer Austria Research Institute found, among other things, that professional recycling of electrical appliances can save up to 83% of CO2 when compared to buying all new.
Additionally, refurbed is growing its leadership presence within Europe. Last week Co-Founder, Kilian Kaminski, was appointed as one of the newest board members of EUREFAS, the European Refurbishment Association. The aim of this association is to create standards within the refurbishment industry and promote sustainable consumption across Europe.
Now more than ever, it is important that consumers across the globe think consciously when it comes to purchasing goods. At refurbed we see this new milestone as a strong sign that sustainability and the circular economy are of mounting importance across our markets.
– Kilian Kaminski, co-founder, refurbed
We have a clear vision here at refurbed, we want to make consumption more sustainable and offer a better alternative to buying new devices. Although the path to sustainability is a long one, the fact that our offering is so well received across Europe shows us that we are on the right track to making our world more sustainable.
– Peter Windischhofer, co-founder, refurbed
