Observatory — Analysis

Why large homogeneous lots are disappearing

For several decades, the economy of office fit-out rested on a simple industrial logic. That model is gradually disappearing, and its disappearance is slowly — but profoundly — transforming the way we work.

By Reuse Advisor

Row of identical office chairs in a warehouse.

June 09, 2026 | 6 min read

01 Large homogeneous lots were the natural product of a linear industrial model

They are the direct result of the industrial model developed after the post-war boom years. The goal back then was clear: to industrialise office spaces.

Companies sought above all efficiency, standardisation, ease of maintenance, aesthetic consistency and cost optimisation.

Buying in bulk from a single manufacturer meant better prices, simpler ordering, streamlined spare parts and strong visual consistency across spaces. The estate then became extremely uniform.

Products were bought together, worn out together, then replaced together.

It is precisely this mechanism that mechanically produced massive, homogeneous flows. Modern reuse has largely inherited this culture. For a long time, many players structured their activity around an implicit idea: a "good" lot had to be deep, homogeneous, stable and easily resellable.

But this vision rested on the principles of a linear economy. And above all, it depended on a model that reuse itself is unable to absorb over the long term.

Because while these large lots exist in theory, reuse players rarely have the financial capacity, the logistical capacity or sufficiently fluid outlets to take back such large volumes.

That is the paradox. The linear model produces industrial volumes. But the reuse market itself remains largely artisanal and fragmented.

02 Flows become fragmented before they even reach the market

Reuse experts are often too small to absorb such large volumes. Taking back 500 workstations or 300 chairs represents a substantial cash-flow requirement, high logistics costs, significant storage space and, above all, a major commercial risk.

Unlike new goods, reuse rarely operates with demand perfectly secured in advance. Players often have to buy before even knowing precisely who they will resell to. This lack of fluidity makes large-scale takebacks extremely risky.

The result: large lots are rarely absorbed by a single player. They are gradually fragmented. Before a flow even truly reaches the market: part of it is taken back internally, some products are pre-reserved, some brokers ultimately take the lots, some pieces are cannibalised, part disappears into maintenance, and other items end up in scattered storage.

The theoretical lot then quickly ceases to exist. What the market finally sees is often only a partial residue of the initial flow.

And yet demand itself remains largely industrial. Clients often continue to look for 200 identical workstations, homogeneous series, consistent depths and perfectly aligned references.

The market then enters a structural tension. Supply becomes fragmented, while demand keeps seeking uniformity. This contradiction profoundly transforms the very nature of the reuse business.

03 The disappearance of large homogeneous lots turns reuse into an engineering activity

As large homogeneous sets disappear, value gradually shifts elsewhere. The perfect lot becomes rare. And that scarcity entirely changes the skills required.

Performance no longer depends solely on the ability to hold stock. It now depends on the ability to qualify flows quickly, identify compatibilities across generations, aggregate multiple sources, project hidden costs, organise logistics, secure outlets and anticipate risks.

Because competitive advantage will probably no longer lie solely in owning stock. It will lie in the ability to make imperfect flows usable.

Skill gradually becomes more important than the stock itself.

The reuse business then changes in nature. You no longer simply resell furniture. You rebuild coherence in an environment that has become heterogeneous.

The future of the sector could therefore belong to players able to detect flows early, mix sources, interconnect stakeholders, partially standardise the heterogeneous and make a market that has become complex legible.

Conclusion

Large homogeneous lots are disappearing because the economic model that produced them is gradually coming into contradiction with the reality of reuse.

Demand remains concentrated among large players able to buy industrially. But supply finds itself fragmented across a multitude of smaller intermediaries with limited financial capacity.

Reuse can therefore no longer rest solely on the simple resale of homogeneous stock. It becomes a business of engineering, aggregation and qualification — the engineering of fragmented flows.

This shift could profoundly transform the sector in the years ahead. Because the circular economy will probably not replace the linear economy by reproducing its mechanisms exactly. It will have to invent its own infrastructure, its own priorities and its own professions.