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Secondhand E-Commerce flourishes in Europe, as consumers pay special attention to sustainability: new yStats.com report.

Secondhand E-Commerce flourishes in Europe, as consumers pay special attention to sustainability: new yStats.com report.

The COVID-19 pandemic together with consumer interest in sustainability increased demand for secondhand goods in Europe

The COVID-19 pandemic and general interest in circular economy practices accelerated the growth of secondhand sales in 2020, and this continues in 2021. In Europe, the recently introduced French regulations aiming to significantly reduce industrial waste are likely to spread to other nations and positively impact the whole secondhand industry. However, with Brexit, the European Union lost one of the major suppliers, so secondhand market players have had to search for new sources of pre-owned goods, as detailed in the yStats.com publication.

On the country-level in Europe secondhand consumer profiles differ, but a general trend exists

Among all researched countries in Europe, a significant share of consumers have had an experience with purchasing secondhand clothing. In some countries, the share was as high as 75%, while for others it was around 20%. With that, online channels were usually among the top destinations for purchases.  In terms of secondhand consumer profile, the largest demand growth on average is likely to come from the younger generations in Europe. Nevertheless, there are some exceptions, such as the United Kingdom, where almost half of all pre-owned goods were purchased by consumers over 55. Apart from secondhand clothing, European consumers also increasingly purchased pre-owned furniture and books, and for some countries, these were the most popular product categories, according to figures cited in the new yStats.com report.

Secondhand E-Commerce players flourish on the European market amid COVID-19

The ranking of E-Commerce market players differed on the country level in Europe. However, when aggregated, the following were among the top local ones: Lithuanian Vinted, UK-based Depop, Rebelle from Germany, as well as French Vestiaire Collective. Each of these had a customer base well above 10 million across available markets. Moreover, during the COVID-19 pandemic, secondhand E-Commerce players in Europe paid special attention to sustainability principles in their businesses and raised substantial investment funding to fulfill their goals, according to figures cited in the new yStats.com publication.

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