eBay Courts Gen Z Shoppers With Tise Acquisition

Online commerce firm eBay is acquiring Tise, a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) second-hand fashion marketplace based in Norway.

The deal is designed to bolster eBay’s C2C position, the company said in its announcement Monday (Sept. 22). Terms of the acquisition were not released.

“Tise’s social-first, highly intuitive platform will open the door to a vibrant community of Gen Z and Millennial enthusiasts who continue to drive demand across categories,” the eCommerce firm said in a news release.

“Additionally, Tise’s community engagement features, including the ability to follow sellers, and receive personalized product recommendations by ‘liking’ and commenting on listings, coupled with its on-trend inventory, will enrich the eBay C2C experience.”

eBay Ventures invested in Tise in 2022, and this is the “natural next step” in that investment, said Oliver Klinck, eBay vice president and general manager for global markets success and C2C.

“With Tise’s on-trend inventory, loyal community, and social-first approach, we’ll strengthen eBay’s C2C offerings, and more deeply connect with the next generation of enthusiasts,” Klinck added.

The acquisition comes at a time when tariffs have provided a boon to secondhand clothing retailers, as noted here in April.

But even before Donald Trump returned to the White House, consumers were using secondhand shopping options to manage their budgets amid ongoing inflation, according to PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Consumers Shop Secondhand Stores as Often as Other Retail.”

The report found that millennials among the most ardent advocates of this system, with 52% of consumers from that age group who bought secondhand products during the prior year saying they had increased their resale shopping.

In other eCommerce news, recent PYMNTS Intelligence research shows that people who shop online tend to spend more than brick-and-mortar consumers.

“Shoppers spend 68% more online per retail basket. The average in-store purchase came to $78.50, compared with $131.66 online,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this month. “That gap holds across the range of categories, suggesting the digital environment itself drives larger tickets, thanks to broader selection, frictionless checkout and upselling algorithms.”

Health and beauty anchor physical retail but command higher spending among eCommerce shoppers. Although 37% of in-store shoppers purchased health and beauty items, more than any other category, the average ticket was $84.67. Those same purchases online came to $138.61 on average or 64% more.