The luxury resale platform taps the executive who ran eBay’s $10 billion global fashion business, as it leans further into AI-driven discovery and supply growth.

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SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 28, 2026 – The RealReal has appointed Alexis Hoopes as Chief Merchandising Officer, bringing in the executive who ran eBay’s global fashion business to lead its assortment and discovery strategy.

Hoopes joins from eBay, where she was Vice President and General Manager of Global Fashion. She led teams across the U.S., U.K. and Europe and oversaw a business the company puts at $10 billion. At The RealReal, she will lead merchandising strategy, focusing on strengthening the luxury assortment, improving personalized product discovery, and using technology and data to open new growth routes.

Authentication and cross-border supply

Her eBay record maps closely onto the resale sector’s main pressure points: trust and supply. She expanded eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee into new categories, price points and international markets. She also grew luxury supply through cross-border commerce between Asia and the U.S., and built resale-as-a-service partnerships with brands and retailers.

Before eBay, Hoopes was Senior Vice President of E-commerce at Mattel, where she built the direct-to-consumer business, launched two digital commerce platforms and integrated American Girl’s e-commerce operations. She spent nearly 15 years at Nordstrom in roles spanning merchandising, strategy, e-commerce and planning.

What the company says

CEO Rati Sahi Levesque cited Hoopes’s “luxury merchandising expertise, global marketplace experience and operational discipline,” and said her ability to match merchandise to shifting consumer demand will be central to accelerating growth.

Hoopes said the opportunity to combine luxury product, proprietary data and emerging technology into a more personalized shopping experience drew her to the role. She named expanding the assortment and unlocking new sources of supply as priorities.

Why it matters

The hire signals where The RealReal sees its next gains: broader supply, sharper discovery and AI-enabled personalization rather than authentication alone. The company points to more than 15 years of proprietary data, an assortment of over one million luxury items, 45 million members and more than 55 million items sold. Hoopes’s cross-border Asia–U.S. sourcing experience and brand-partnership model, in particular, suggest supply expansion beyond consignment from individual consumers.

The RealReal describes itself as the world’s largest online marketplace for authenticated resale luxury goods, spanning fashion, fine jewelry and watches, art and home. It trades on Nasdaq under REAL.