The 4 Fundamentals of Recommerce

Karri: Hello and welcome to the Recommerce Podcast, the podcast where we talk all things recommerce and circular businesses. I’m joined this week by Tuomo Laine, the CEO and co-founder of TWICE Commerce.

Tuomo: Hello. Hello. Thanks for having me again.

Karri: This week, we are diving deep into the core four fundamentals that are driving TWICE Commerce and the software that they are developing. The fundamentals are: each item is unique, everything is temporal or time dependent, orders are non-linear and dynamic, and recommerce is a next-level connectivity game. So Tuomo, I think these are originally from your mouth, so maybe you can take a little bit of time on each of them. Let’s start with “Each item is unique.”

Tuomo: Yeah, sure. I think that’s probably the easiest to understand or explain. In recommerce, you’re selling or servitizing items that end up with or already have a unique condition and pricing, and thus a unique value. If you want to sell unique items—almost collectible in nature—you need to track inventory at a single-SKU level. That’s the core idea.

Karri: Sounds simple, but I imagine it changes everything.

Tuomo: It is simple when you look at a static data snapshot. But the complexity begins in operations—connecting a dynamic catalog to single-SKU inventory, assigning individual items to orders, handling substitutions, and so on. That’s where it gets tricky.

Karri: So your catalog isn’t your inventory anymore?

Tuomo: Exactly. In linear commerce, your catalog item had a SKU and you tracked quantity. With single-SKU, each item is its own row in the database. This creates a more dynamic structure, especially when you do rentals.

Karri: And the item history matters now too, right?

Tuomo: Yes. In linear commerce, an item is assumed to be in a static, sellable state. But in recommerce, items go through inspections, grades, repairs, and events. You start tracking all of that.

Karri: Which takes us to the second fundamental: everything is temporal or time dependent.

Tuomo: Exactly. Once items go through a life cycle—multiple rentals, inspections, repairs—you accumulate a timeline of events. Some are in the past, some are scheduled for the future. These events tell you about availability, utilization, maintenance history, profitability—you name it.

Karri: And that makes the software more complex too, right?

Tuomo: It does. Because now you’re not just asking “what do I have right now?” You’re asking “what will I have next week?” or “how many times has this item been used this season?” You need temporal logic built into the system to answer those questions.

Karri: And you want to analyze how specific items performed during a specific time window.

Tuomo: Yes, exactly. You might want to know how much revenue a certain ski model brought in this season and how much maintenance it required. All of that depends on accurate event tracking.

Karri: The more granular your data, the better your forecasting.

Tuomo: Yes. With enough event logs, you can even start predicting things like demand, availability, or when maintenance is likely needed—before a failure occurs.

Karri: That leads us nicely into the third core idea: orders are non-linear and dynamic.

Tuomo: Right. In linear commerce, orders follow a simple flow: pick, pack, ship. In recommerce, the flow could be: receive, inspect, grade, refurbish, restock—or recycle. Some flows start with receiving an item, not sending it out.

Karri: And the flows aren’t always the same for every product.

Tuomo: Exactly. It’s very product- and brand-specific. You may even route different items to different refurbishers or fulfillment paths based on condition, category, or location.

Karri: And a single checkout might include a mix of incoming and outgoing items.

Tuomo: Yes—one order might include a trade-in item, a rental subscription, a protection plan, and a physical product. That adds huge complexity to how you model orders.

Karri: So a single order could have multiple people, items going both directions, deposits, and more.

Tuomo: Correct. Especially in rentals, like a ski resort—six people renting six different items, some for longer than others. Each item needs to be assigned, tracked, and priced dynamically.

Karri: And price might depend on duration, skill level, demand, even weather.

Tuomo: Yes, and the inventory assignment logic varies by merchant too. Some want to use older inventory first; others prefer even wear. That logic needs to be customizable.

Karri: Which brings us to the final fundamental: recommerce is a next-level connectivity game.

Tuomo: Right. Commerce has always been about connecting systems—tax, ERP, CRM, POS. But recommerce pushes that even further. Merchants often outsource parts of the operational cycle: refurbishing, inspections, logistics. So you’re connecting not just data, but workflows across multiple actors.

Karri: And even small shops might have a lot of integration points.

Tuomo: Exactly. You might have low volume, but still want to send returns to a marketplace or refurbisher. Or do bulk sell-offs to aggregators. That requires connectivity.

Karri: And edge cases are everywhere.

Tuomo: Yes. One merchant I met saves €100k a year by driving items across the border weekly in a van rather than using the “smooth” integration that costs €20 per item. They need software that lets them do that hack.

Karri: That’s wild. So you’re not just building a product—you’re building an OS.

Tuomo: Yes. A commerce OS. You want the simple things to be extremely easy, but everything else to be possible. That’s the Shopify quote, right? “Make the important things easy and everything else possible.”

Karri: And to wrap it up—maybe there’s a hidden fifth fundamental: make it simple for simple use cases.

Tuomo: Exactly. If you want to sell a pen, you should be able to do that in five seconds. Then grow into complexity when needed. Ideally, the OS layer is so well built that AI agents can handle the complexity on your behalf.

Karri: That’s a great note to end on. Thanks again, Tuomo!

Tuomo: Thank you so much.