As the cost-of-living continues to climb, the second-hand economy is experiencing a surge.
PayPal’s recent Resale Renaissance Report, polling 2,000 Canadians, revealed the reselling movement has gone mainstream, with 73 per cent purchasing pre-loved items to make their money go further. Clothes (38 per cent), books (21 per cent) and furniture (20 per cent) top Canadians’ thrift shopping lists, turning one person’s trash into their own treasure.
“With prices soaring, it’s no surprise we’re seeing a boom in the second-hand economy,” said Malini Mitra, Director of Communications, PayPal Canada.
Key findings from the report include:
- Canadians have on average $571 estimated worth of unwanted items stored around their homes, ripe for resale, and 65 per cent agree that their homes are full of unused belongings;
- 31 per cent of Canadians say they purchase pre-loved goods at least once a month, spending on average $116 in the last 12 months on used items;
- Reasons behind not taking advantage of these potential earnings include not knowing where to start when reselling (43 per cent), hesitancy around doing transactions with strangers (39 per cent) and not believing enough profit would be made to make it worthwhile (34 per cent);
- 48 per cent choose to shop used items in search of a bargain. The average Canadian has generated $167 in the last 12 months from a reselling side hustle, making an average profit of $31 per sale – with 50 per cent admitting that selling items they no longer need is a good way to supplement their primary income source;
- 28 per cent of Canadians say clothes were the item they sold for the highest value – with furniture (20 per cent) and gaming consoles and equipment (16 per cent) completing the list of the most lucrative items sold by novice Canadian resellers;
- 42 per cent of Gen Z Canadians report buying pre-owned goods more than once a month compared to 27 per cent of Gen X and Boomers;
- 36 per cent say they have purchased items from an online marketplace and 34 per cent also say they have turned to social media to seek pre-loved purchases.
In this video interview, Ariana Kertsanis, a Gen Z Canadian reseller with over 22,000 followers on Poshmark, discusses her experiences in the second-hand economy that is growing in popularity online.
The Video Interview Series by Retail Insider is available on YouTube.
The Video Interview Series by Retail Insider is available on YouTube.
Connect with Mario Toneguzzi, a veteran of the media industry for more than 40 years and named in 2021 a Top Ten Business Journalist in the world and the only Canadian – to learn how you can tell your story, share your message and amplify it to a wide audience. He is Senior News Editor with Retail Insider and owner of Mario Toneguzzi Communications Inc. and can be reached at mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com.
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