How speedy service keeps this luxury shoe business a step ahead
Moses Rashid on taking The Edit LDN from spare bedroom to global brand.
Twelve months ago, Moses Rashid told a journalist from The Times that his company, The Edit LDN, was going to be "the Amazon of sneakers". It was an ambitious aim for a business that had been launched from Rashid’s spare bedroom just a year earlier, but one that the savvy entrepreneur is well on his way to achieving.
“Our [unique selling point] USP is around speed and service,” says Rashid. “We can [deliver sneakers] quicker and more efficiently."
It’s partly this clarity around The Edit LDN’s purpose and brand values that has helped the business grow so quickly, says Rashid.
"Our [unique selling point] USP is around speed and service."
Since launching in 2020, The Edit LDN has carved out a niche as a luxury business offering ultra-speedy delivery of prestigious new and preowned accessories and footwear from the likes of Dior and Air Jordan.
Unlike some luxury consignment stores, which take weeks to process, authenticate and send preowned products to customers, The Edit LDN aims to do it in a matter of days.
In today’s digitised and always-on world, this emphasis on speed and convenience has helped set The Edit LDN apart. Just two years after the business launched, Rashid now employs some 50 staff, and recently opened a retail concession at Harrods.
Rashid, a self-confessed "sneaker-head" came up with the idea for The Edit LDN after buying a £700 pair of sneakers at a sneaker festival.
"[When I was buying them] I asked a very simple question: 'Do you have a bag for me?' The guy said ‘No’, and it blew my mind that I was paying premium but not getting premium service," he recalls.
He then reached out to his 20,000+ contacts on LinkedIn and managed to secure £200,000 in investment to kickstart the business. "That was a period of jumping on calls and hustling for want of a better word," he says. "Luckily there were a lot of people who understood the vision and mission."
Securing sought-after sneakers
The Edit LDN operates like a private marketplace, connecting customers with resellers. Sellers can upload their products directly onto The Edit LDN’s platform, and once the sneakers sell, they are sent to the customer via The Edit LDN headquarters, where they are authenticated.
The success of the business depends on Rashid’s ability to access the world’s most sought-after sneakers – before his competitors. To do this, The Edit LDN works closely with resellers, especially the larger operators.
“It's different to the likes of eBay. Our resellers have 50-100 pairs as opposed to one or two, which means they're ingrained in the sneaker market. These are the guys who get access to what we refer to as ‘early pairs’.”
"Louis Vuitton x Nike Air Force 1, for example, was an incredibly sought-after drop and we had 60 pairs in our HQ three months before release – that's about network. A lot of these guys put their product through to us exclusively as opposed to our competitors."
In short, contacts are everything.
Rashid helps nurture these sellers by supporting them in selling their product, through higher pay-out prices and offering them the opportunity to place their products in retail locations such as Harrods and Galeries Lafayette in Paris.
"Like any economy, the sneaker economy has a whole industry or network behind it. Of course, we're getting the most premium pairs on a global level now but at first, I didn't have any of those contacts and I didn't know any of those people..."
"Think about how you innovate in your space; what are the components that set you apart. Have fun with it."
Be creative and innovative
Rashid always has one eye on the future and says that prioritising innovation – along with a relentless focus on customer-centricity – is an important ingredient to any business’ success. "Think about how you innovate in your space; what are the components that really set you apart. Have fun with it," says Rashid, who partnered with Harrods last year (as the first business of its kind to be sold in the luxury department store), has a pop-up in Qatar, and plans for similar boutiques in Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands next year.
Early on, The Edit LDN turned to creative methods to build its audience.
"Supreme [the London store] would have a queue every Thursday morning [when a new sneaker dropped] so I went down with a videographer and got people to rate each other on their outfits. We created this fun bit of content, noted down everybody's Instagram handles, and pointed them towards The Edit LDN," he says. "At that point it wasn't about selling, it was about building an audience. Once we had an audience, we could start selling to them."
Be bold
As well as offering customers a same-day service, The Edit LDN is the first global reseller to pledge to removing one kilogram of plastic from the oceans with every sale and, in 2023, is becoming the first global reseller to launch into the Metaverse. "These are big, bold moves to [undertake] at such a young age [of business], but we've done them and executed them perfectly," says Rashid. "The key is not being afraid of it not working."
Help people invest
"Sneakers and streetwear are a culture that has become a commodity; there are people willing to spend on things that matter to them," explains Rashid, whose personal highlight was selling a signed Virgil Abloh sneaker – "a real piece of history" – for £50,000.
Equally there is a "growing desire for people wanting to spread the cost of purchasing higher-value products," adds Rashid, and that's where Clearpay comes in. "[The buy now, pay later platform has] increased conversions and built trust with our audience."
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