Demand for “pre-loved” goods has surged as the cost of living crisis prompts people to save by buying second-hand items, a study reveals.
Britain’s pre-loved economy has grown to an estimated £6.5 billion this year — a jump of 48 per cent since 2020 — and the market is expected to double in the next five years to £12.6 billion.
Owen Good, the head of economic advisory at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which conducted the survey with the used car marketplace Motorway, said that the rapid expansion of the pre-loved economy was “especially pertinent given the . . . severely dampened spending power of consumers”.
In the survey, 45.9 per cent of respondents said that extra income was the main driver in their decision to sell pre-loved items.
Two-thirds of people who had purchased second-hand goods in the past year cited reducing their expenses as the main reason behind buying used goods.
Second-hand books and stationery were the most popular items purchased, with 29 per cent of people in the survey buying these.
Twenty-two per cent of people bought pre-loved women’s clothing and accessories while menswear and accessories were the third most popular purchases at 15 per cent.
Footwear and furnishing were also in demand among consumers with 13 per cent purchasing them.
Cars, vans and motorcycles made up one third of the second-hand market, with a value of £2.2 billion, according to the research.
A variety of factors were behind this, including the continuing global shortage of semiconductors and other vehicle parts, which has caused delays for manufacturers bringing new cars to market and resulted in increased levels of demand for used vehicles.
The accessibility of online marketplaces for second-hand belongings, such as Depop and Vinted, has helped the growth of the pre-loved goods sector, with the proportion of second-hand goods sold online rising to 74 per cent in 2022, up from 57 per cent in 2017.
People who describe themselves as environmentally conscious and consider buying pre-loved goods a more sustainable way to shop made up 36 per cent of consumers who bought pre-loved goods in the past year.
The research highlights the “considerable contribution” that the pre-loved market brings to the British economy as second-hand goods grow in popularity.