StockX’s third initial public offering for limited-edition consumer products is underway.
The “stock market of things” partnered with fellow Detroit firm Shinola to launch the watchmaker’s first automatic timepiece.
Five prototypes of the brand’s 500 Lake Erie Monster watches, complete with a leather tech portfolio and metal watch case, will be open for bidding until Nov. 12 starting at the $2,250 retail price. At the end of the period, the top five bidders can either claim the package or resell it on the platform, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit local charities.
True Commodities Trading
StockX’s first two IPOs turned out “phenomenally” by CEO Josh Luber’s standards.
In 2016, Roc-A-Fella Records sold limited T-shirts commemorating the 20th anniversary of Jay-Z’s first album. The following year, Nike Inc NKE used the site to re-release LeBron James’ first retro sneakers ahead of retail distribution. The 46 packages sold for $6,000 each and included an NBA championship ring and box made from the Cleveland Cavaliers' championship court.
Some of the items sold remained on the platform, and their earliest owners resold without ever taking physical possession.
“It’s true commodities trading,” Luber told Benzinga.
The StockX Exchange
Co-founded in 2016 by Luber, Quicken Loans’ Dan Gilbert and StockX COO Greg Schwartz, the division of Rock Ventures facilitates peer-to-peer and business-to-consumer transactions of high-demand sneakers, watches, handbags and streetwear.
“The StockX process helps to establish the true market value of the product, and like the New York Stock Exchange, facilitates immediate secondary market trading after its initial release,” according to the press release.
Like a real market, the platform provides real-time pricing, personal portfolio tracking, analysis, volatility and historical values. StockX “regulates” the market and anonymous trades by fielding all commodities for inspection and authentication before transferring funds.
“StockX has been built, in every way, to replicate the functionality of the world’s stock markets,” Luber said in a statement. “That functionality, on one hand, provides a more efficient secondary market, but it also facilitates a better way to release products into the market – i.e., the ‘IPO’ of consumer goods.”
Management forecasts a gross merchandise value run rate in excess of $200 million by the year’s end.
The Virtual Shelves
In non-retail transactions, brands include Adidas, Louis Vuitton and Rolex.
“The bigger, long-term vision is not only being a secondary market but being able to work directly with retail and then building an exchange on top of it where people can trade consumer goods,” Luber said.
As essentially a consumer marketplace, the exchange is not subject to market regulation — yet.
“If we were a commodity exchange at scale, that may be something that is regulated, but we haven’t done this at scale yet,” Luber said. “As we grow, we may actually have to be registered with the [the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau], but today is just about the back-end method of connecting buyers and sellers.”
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