In early 2025, after seeing Substack writers regularly post about their latest purchases, vintage finds and shopping tips from The RealReal, the luxury resale marketplace decided it wanted a slice of the action.The company launched its own Gossip Girl-style newsletter that February, penned by an anonymous “RealGirl.” The goal was to join conversations that were already happening on the platform and give people who already liked The RealReal more ways to spend time with the brand. What the company didn’t expect was how many readers would actually buy products featured in the newsletter.
The RealReal was not initially tracking purchases generated by links featured in its Substack, The RealGirl. After noticing products linked in the newsletter were repeatedly selling out, the company started monitoring performance more closely. The RealReal found that its Substack has generated over $334,000 in sales. It’s one of the clearest signs yet that branded Substacks are evolving from marketing experiments into channels that can produce tangible business results.
“We started to notice that they were all selling out,” said Kristen Naiman, The RealReal’s chief creative officer, referring to product links featured in the company’s Substack. “It wasn’t meant to drive sales, but it is driving sales.”
