Among the ten most popular used goods among Austrians are, in addition to books, clothing and toys, furniture and household appliances, electronics, bicycles, accessories and various household goods. Three quarters of buyers admit that they want to save money in this way or buy more things than usual with the same budget. And this is the main reason, but not the only one. 69 percent of respondents said that on the secondary market you can buy something that you cannot find in regular shops, 66 percent are sure that reusing things saves the environment and 55 percent simply think that used clothing and equipment are “cool”.
At the same time, Austrians have clearly mastered this: 37 percent of respondents say they want to make such purchases more often in the future, and almost all others say they want to make them at least as often as they do now. And Austria is not alone in this love of “second-hand goods.” The rejection of new things in favor of used ones has become a global trend in recent years. The global second-hand market was worth $162 billion last year, growing by 16 percent annually and is expected to reach almost a trillion by the middle of the next decade. In addition, this market is becoming less and less like a flea market: used goods are sold by large companies, including well-known clothing manufacturers, who open corresponding departments in their stores.
According to experts, this growth cannot be explained by thrift alone. People are really changing their way of thinking about used items. Some, instead of throwing them away, put them up for sale, others are happy to buy them. With pleasure, often in the literal sense of the word. As Tracy Walsh, economics editor at The Conversation, notes, for the younger generation, buying second-hand items has become a kind of game or entertainment. Another reason, according to Walsh, is the desire for minimalism: people simply do not want to pay as much for clothes or other things as they ask in regular stores, believing that they are simply not worth it.
These changes in consumer behaviour are particularly noticeable in China. Not long ago, buying second-hand goods was considered a shameful sign of poverty in this country, but now the Chinese secondary market for goods is growing faster than in the USA and Europe. At the same time, the fastest growth is demonstrated by sales of used luxury goods – expensive watches, handbags and other accessories, which, by the way, is also a global trend. But this also applies to the sphere of collecting: it is in the “second-hand” luxury segment that uniqueness is most valued and things are often more expensive than new ones.
