Secondhand shopping has entered the mainstream. No longer a mere fad or a trend, it’s a bona-fide vehicle for retail sales that has the vast majority of consumers hooked.
A staggering 85 percent of shoppers now engage in re-commerce, having purchased something pre-owned over the course of the past year, according to a report released by mobile marketplace OfferUp this week. Insights from GlobalData and references from a June poll of 1,500 U.S. consumers conducted by Pollfish contributed to the group’s findings, which showed that resale is undeniably on the rise. Over the past year, 27 percent of shoppers bought or sold something secondhand for the first time, and the volume of secondary market participants grew by 3 percent from 2022.
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Attitudes surrounding pre-owned goods have evolved dramatically in recent seasons, and 76 percent of survey respondents said they feel the stigma associated with shopping secondhand has dissipated. Fifty-seven percent said they believe the desire for more affordable options has prompted the shift, while 55 percent said greater awareness about waste and environmental impact has them looking for more sustainable ways to shop. More than half (54 percent) of shoppers said re-commerce offers more choice and variety, as well as boosting the availability of coveted products that might be sold out on the primary market.
The craze is pushing re-commerce to new heights, with the secondhand market projected to reach $188.5 billion by the end of 2023. By 2028, experts predict that it will be worth $276 billion—a growth rate of 58 percent year over year that will outpace the overall retail market by more than 4 percent. During the same time frame, re-commerce is expected to grow to account for 8 percent of all retail transactions.
Though the secondhand shopping wave began with fashion, other categories are growing rapidly. In fact, OfferUp findings show that apparel accounts for just 23 percent—less than one in four—of the products sold through re-commerce channels, with electronics, furniture, home goods, home improvement, sporting goods, outdoor equipment and auto parts making up the remainder.
As inflation remains a key driver in consumers’ purchasing decisions, resale has become an even more valuable option, analysts wrote. In 2023, the top three reasons shoppers cite for buying pre-owned are to find good deals (78 percent), to avoid inflated prices at retail (58 percent) and to maintain their lifestyles amid new budgetary constraints (34 percent). Still more consumers are likely to engage in re-commerce if the economy worsens; 47 percent said they foresee themselves upping the frequency of buying or selling secondhand goods during a recession. There’s evidence that shoppers are already selling goods to pay for living expenses—69 percent of all surveyed sellers said they have used the money they generate from sales to pay for bills or necessities, and 39 percent said resale is helping them “make ends meet.”
Consumers are increasingly turning to web-based resale platforms, rather than thrift or consignment stores, as they have helped make re-commerce more convenient and accessible. Three-quarters of survey takers said they find resale sites just as or even more convenient than traditional online shopping, and 47 percent prefer it to buying on social media platforms. Most notably, 40 percent said shopping online resale is more convenient than buying at brick-and-mortar stores, with 70 percent citing lower prices, 47 percent pointing to the unique variety of products, and 37 percent valuing the “opportunity to discover unexpected treasures,” analysts wrote.
