Exploring the opportunities of the resale market

Posted on Jul 06th 2021



What is the secondhand market model? 

Resale is the retail of derivative products. A few years back, secondhand products were traded in particular on flea markets and thrift shops. These days a great deal of buying and selling has shifted to online platforms. The fashion industry has been endorsing resale products. However, non-fashion companies are also catching up. For example, the fixtures store IKEA has currently released a take-back providing a pilot secondhand pop-up store.

Why do consumers buy secondhand products?

 Buying secondhand merchandise is not considered taboo – in fact, current research displays that mainly younger human beings are proud to shop for secondhand. This improvement is pushed via a large number of factors. Most of them are related to two key drivers: It is cheaper. It is greener.

Secondhand products can be bought for a fragment of the retail rate. This no longer suggests that every one of the resale models take a seat down in low-price segments. Recent years have seen an unparalleled upward trend in luxurious style resale. Brands like Nike or Gucci partner with consignment offerings like RealReal to accumulate and resell their pre-owned merchandise. On systems that include Vestiaire Collective, purchasers can at once promote used luxurious items to their peers. Like buyers, personal sellers, too, are regularly pushed by economic motives – the possibility of creating some more outstanding greenbacks while cleaning out their closets.

What is the impact of Covid-19 on the secondhand market? 

A few professionals were concerned that buyers may withdraw from shopping for used objects for hygienic reasons when the pandemic hit. However, the numbers imply simply the opposite. Vinted, an internet platform for secondhand apparel with over 12 million customers in France, has grown considerably in the course of the containment measures followed in France to fight the Covid-19 pandemic between March and May. Recent consumer research explains why: globally, people determined the time to ease their wardrobes twice as often as earlier than the pandemic. With clients persevering with decluttering their houses and are looking for deals online, online resale grew by 70% in 2021 compared to 2019, even as the broader retail region is anticipated to decrease by 15%.