Digitalizing the concept of thrift shops.
Nowadays, shopping has become very easy, with a simple click and your order will be shipped from wherever you are located in the world. Since a few years ago, thrift shops are incredibly popular among everyone, but specially millennials. Furthermore, thrift shopping has become so normalized, compared to the precedent years, when mostly big brands were ruling the market like H&M, Zara, Pull&Bear…
It is not even a joke, the increasing positive returns transformed into a viable $28 billion industry what is expected to eclipse fast fashion by 2029, according to findings from Thredup, an online consignment and thrift store.
The second-hand clothing market experienced a strong success from 11 to 33 billion dollars. Digital has allowed the opportunity to experience a real boom.
The advantage of going online is that it has no space limit and, if you think about it, there is no physical store in the world that can hold more than 1.2 million products, such as Vestiaire Collective. Its success is mainly due to its products’ authentication service before it goes on sale. The service checks their good quality, certifies them and suggests a resale price, justifying a commission of 15 to 25% by transaction.
Second-hand items are no longer displayed local only, but the business of second-hand is making its way online, whether on websites or apps. With the increase of social media users, thrift shops are seeking the opportunity to make it easier for their users to shop online. This contributes as well to the ecological vision.
As I mentioned before in the article, they attract mainly the millennial, the young generation. They are potential users of social media and not afraid of trying out different fashion styles. They find their gems on this online stores, such as Depop, Vinted, Thredup…
The big positive point is the appealing price, instead of buying a £20 item on a local thrift shop, you can find cheaper options on other online ones. Even luxurious and designer things items can be found cheaper. Specially for students whom budget may be tight, they can have way more items by clicking a few buttons, and ready!
However, some local thrift shops have even their online website like Oxfam shop. The British independent charitable organization does not only sell second-hand clothes and accessories online, but aims at the same time the goal of ending poverty and fight injustice.
Craving for original items such as clothes and accessories and trying to not get trapped in the basic and standard fashion tendencies. These online thrift shops present a wide range of items for all tastes without having to move from where you are at. The list goes on, you have multiple choices online.
The majority of them have their website or app well-built. This means: with neatly and well organized categories, making it easier and more efficient to find what are we looking for. This is an advantage, because sometimes in local thrift shops we tend to get lost.
Going digital has its perks, unlike physical thrift shops, some platforms are the source of inspiration of the buyers and sellers. They allow to not only see the item, buy displayed with style and even combined outfits with only thrifted items.
On Depop, sellers can create their own online store and customize it. On the other hand, buyers can trade with sellers, like clothes and trade with other members. Depop is a mixture of Ebay and Instagram. It is both a place of sale but also a place of creating trends where young people go to find inspiration for them.
Moreover, social media does not only promote thrift shopping as a fashion trend or style. But also underlines the importance of sustainability and raising awarness of fast fashion and other related issues. We have to know: going digitally increases the perks of sustainability, by enforcing the cycle between seller and buyers but in a larger scale.
“We are contributing to a seismic shift in the secondhand fashion market, enabling more sustainable, socially responsible shopping habits. Our platform offers a great, easy-to-use product and helps people experience the benefits of secondhand trade,” said Vinted chief executive officer Thomas Plantenga.
The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, caused real damages for several businesses. This was a challenge for many companies, however, online thrift shops were one of the few ones to shine even more during this period. This was the case for Vinted, the Lithuanian online marketplace with 45 million members called Vinties.
The app continued its rise despite the worldwide health crisis. During the first lockdown, traffic on the app increased by 17% . It is easy to use, just by staying at home seller and buyer can be satisfied. It was indeed the ideal activity for both of them.
Not everyone can own a physical store. What’s great about online thrift shops is that you can easily create an account, be a buyer or a seller. It is really easy to earn some money by selling on these apps. Just upload a few photos, write the title, a brief description, tags are important too and…ready! Your item is online.
If you don’t want to just clear out your closet but sell high volume of items, you can! On Vinted pro you can set a professional profile for free. Can be a side hustle or a stable revenue income!
As a seller on Vinted you don’t have to pay for the delivery cost. However, on other websites it is not really that profitable, like in the case of Depop or Etsy.
Depop allows you post for free, but charges a commission of 10% for each sold item, and it depends on how much does it cost. Otherwise, when it comes to delivery, if you choose to ship with Depop, packaging may vary from £4.50 up to £15.
The evolution of these platforms is crucial and make us wonder if the challenges and opportunities they will encounter in the future.
