In the competitive world of refurbished electronics, quality assurance is more crucial than ever. Back Market, a French-based online marketplace for refurbished devices, is taking proactive steps to raise the bar on the quality of products sold through its platform. Since its launch in 2016, Back Market has made significant strides in reducing the defective rate of devices, dropping from 15% to under 4% today.
The role of automated testing in quality improvement
A key factor behind this improvement is Back Market’s increasing use of robotic and automated testing. Antony Harrat, Back Market’s director of quality, discussed the impact of these technologies in a recent interview with CIOapplications.com. Harrat explained that manual testing, especially in busy warehouse environments, is prone to errors and subjectivity. The shift to automation removes these variables, ensuring higher consistency, precision, and repeatability during the testing process.
Robots are not only more accurate but also more efficient, enabling Back Market to process devices faster and reduce labor costs. As the marketplace grows and competition increases, Back Market’s focus on robotic testing could give it a competitive edge in the secondary market. In fact, there are indications that Back Market might introduce a special buy box for merchants whose devices undergo robotic testing, incentivizing quality improvement across the platform.
Challenges of robotic testing and automated processing
While the benefits of robotic testing are clear, there are challenges, particularly around the initial investment and the volume required to achieve cost-effectiveness. For companies to break even on their automated processing setup, a relatively high processing volume is needed. However, the long-term savings in labor costs and the boost to product quality make the investment worthwhile for many sellers.
Processing as a Service: Dis-Connect and Cyculus lead the way
In Europe, two companies are making waves in the automated testing and processing space, offering their services to the secondary market. Dis-Connect, based in Karlsruhe, Germany, has started offering processing as a service (PaaS), using FutureDial machines paired with their own proprietary AI grading model. FutureDial services are well integrated within Back Market, positioning them as a key player in the industry. And Dis-Connect is supporting their customers selling directly on Back Market.
Another emerging player is Cyculus, located near Stuttgart. Founded by two Telecom industry veterans, Cyculus will begin using Apkudo’s systems to offer automated processing in early 2025. Cyculus claims to be able to process up to 300 devices per hour, a significant achievement in the industry. Cyculus offers a full end to end solution from cleaning devices to packing them.
Both companies are convenient located close to Germany, Benelux, France and other DACH countries. These countries together account for more than 50% of the market share in the European secondary market.
Conclusion: automation shapes the future of the secondary market
Back Market’s embrace of robotic and automated testing reflects a broader trend in the secondary market—where efficiency, precision, and scalability are becoming increasingly important. With more companies adopting automation to improve product quality, the entire industry is likely to see higher standards and better customer satisfaction, driving further growth in the competitive refurbished electronics space.
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Trade-in
Repair
Refurbishing
