In order to add children's bookcases and blackboard shelves to kindergarten children, Liu Wenxin, 34, got into an argument with his parents. Parents insist that "why do their children use other people's second-hand goods", but Liu Wenxin believes that these consumables do not need to buy new ones. Eventually, he spent 1/3 of the mall's price and moved back a set of gear from a neighbor's house.
15,000 brand-name bags, 8,000 yuan to take away; 1,000 yuan of cosmetics, unopened price of 650 yuan; IKEA side of the few free to send, the same city to pick up can be ... Open the second-hand e-commerce trading platform, such second-hand product information abounds. Walking on the streets of Shanghai, second-hand commodity stores have sprung up like mushrooms, selling goods and revaluing them, becoming a new place for many young people to punch in and spend.
Behind the overlap of the identities of "buyer" and "seller" is the recovery of the second-hand commodity trading market among young people. Recent reports from a number of institutions at home and abroad also show the booming rise of the second-hand market. According to the "2021 China Idle Second-hand Trading Carbon Emission Reduction Report" released by the Institute of Energy, Environment and Economics of Tsinghua University, together with consulting institutions and second-hand trading platforms, the transaction scale of China's second-hand idle goods has increased from about 300 billion yuan in 2015 to a market size of more than one trillion yuan in 2020, and it is expected to be close to 3 trillion yuan in 2025. "Idle trading has evolved from a relatively niche money-saving behavior to a fashionable, trendy way of life, especially loved by the main consumer groups such as the post-80s and post-90s generations."
Why is second-hand trading, a consumption mode that has gradually subsided with economic development, revived with economic development?
In order to save money, it is not only to save money
"Moving to sort out a solid wood table, three sets of IKEA shelves, visually measured 90% new, no bumps and scratches, intentional private." Yang Fei, who works at a cosmetics company in Shanghai, saw a transfer message and picture from a former colleague in the circle of friends, and immediately spent 150 yuan to buy back the shelf with the original price of nearly 600 yuan. "Old colleagues jumped ship to move to Zhangjiang, and some things were nowhere to put in the new house. This shelf only took half a year, and it was a pity that it was lost; I just had to install a shelf in the garage to put tools, so there was no need to buy a brand new one. In Yang Fei's view, such a transaction is the best of both worlds.
Yang Fei has gradually become accustomed to going to the second-hand trading platform before buying things, "Sometimes you can buy 90% of new things at less than half the price, and sometimes you can buy new second-hand items at a 30% discount." "Last autumn and winter, he wanted to buy a set of four-piece bedding of a certain brand, and the price of the counter exceeded 3,000 yuan, even if the "double 12" discount price was still about 2,500 yuan. "Later, on the second-hand trading platform, I saw someone transfer a new unpackaged one, and the seller said that it was a benefit issued by the company, and the size could not be used at home, as long as 700 yuan." Now this set of bedding has been spread on the bed of Yang Fei's family.
A second-hand trading platform counted the sales data during the 618 period last year, because it coincided with the graduation season, and the most resold products among the student group were digital products such as laptops and mobile phones, of which laptops accounted for more than 60%. As graduates enter the society, the search popularity of washing machines, small refrigerators, lamps and computer desks continues to rise, and the popular price of these home appliances is concentrated in the range of 500-1000 yuan.
The way you "save money" by consuming second-hand goods is not just about price. The 29-year-old Guo Peng left Beijing three years ago to move to Shanghai, and almost all of the furniture and electrical appliances in Beijing were sent to people or disposed of through second-hand platforms. In Shanghai, he started a business after leaving the Internet company and moved twice, the same treatment: "Contemporary people spend the most on 'living', why waste the space to pay high house prices to pile up things that are basically useless?" For Guo Peng, "breaking away" has gradually become the way of life of many peers, compared to parents who are accustomed to hoarding idle items and firmly believe that "one day they can use it", they are more willing to circulate through the second-hand platform, "Buy it when there is a big need, anyway, the logistics is fast." ”
The heating up of the second-hand trading market has also spawned some new ways of spending. Du Churan, a 24-year-old citizen who lives in a small area on Luoshan Road in Pudong New Area, has liked to search for perfume since college, but the price of a bottle of hundreds of yuan has deterred her. However, on the second-hand platform, someone buys the perfume into small bottles, denominated in milliliters, and she can buy it for more than ten yuan to try to decide whether to buy the whole bottle: "So that you can 'trial and error mine clearance' at the smallest cost and find what you like best." ”
Under the question of "why young people are keen on second-hand trading", the first reason for almost all the answers is "because it is really cheap". But when the reporter visited, he found that low prices are not the only reason why young people are keen on second-hand trading.
Liu Wenxin, who is engaged in the financial industry, lives in a villa community in the Kangqiao area of Pudong New Area, and his family is well-off. He admits that when measuring the value of goods, more emphasis is placed on "whether it is necessary or not.". "For example, a children's bookcase that is more than a meter high, children use it until the third grade or so, rather than buying a new one, it is better to find a second-hand product with a good texture and good color; if the future color is maintained well, I will also send it to people in need to enter the third recycling." In his view, "making the best use of things" and "recycling" are "reducing the burden" on families and society, "not affecting consumption feelings, why not choose a better way for yourself and society?" ”
Experience the cultural implications of old things
Walking into the 4th floor of TX Huaihai Mall, which locates young customers, rows of clothing, stacked bags and necklace bracelets are placed in a tray, set off by dim lights and mottled wooden cabinets, just like a market in a shopping mall, filled with a nostalgic atmosphere, and many young people take photos here. On closer inspection, these goods are all second-hand goods from internationally renowned brands, and the vast majority of them have disappeared in brand stores. Such medieval luxury stores are becoming the "favorite" of young people who chase trends.
From the riverside area of The Nampo Bridge to the plane trees on Julu Road, second-hand luxury stores are constantly opening. Search for relevant keywords on the Little Red Book, you can find a large number of "shop tips" and "shop notes".
Walking into a chinese luxury store on Lujiabang Road, some brand stores are still selling styles, and the second-hand price is maintained at about 7-8% off the original price according to the product phase, and some styles can even be bought at a 50% discount. Ms. Liu, a citizen who came to shop, is a "regular customer" here: "For bags for daily use, second-hand goods with good quality are much more cost-effective than new products in special counters. ”
However, the reporter saw at the scene that the price of all kinds of non-precious metal jewelry displayed at the counter was generally 10,000-20,000 yuan, which was more expensive than the new similar goods being sold at the counter today. "Many consumers choose second-hand goods in order to find limited editions that are no longer produced, and the price of second-hand goods in these styles will be higher than the original price." Some operators of medieval luxury stores told reporters that with the trend of "retro" in recent years, the price of these second-hand goods has risen, taking a brand of non-precious metal brooch as an example, the price of about 3,000 yuan three years ago has now exceeded 15,000 yuan. "In addition to celebrities 'bringing goods', the pursuit of uniqueness and individuality is also an important reason for consumers to turn to the second-hand market." Ms. Gao, who works in second-hand furniture and art overseas, "tested the waters" of the Shanghai market last year: "Some consumers also ask about the origin of second-hand goods because they 'want to know what kind of person the former owner of the same item they liked.'" ”
Buying one or two pieces of medieval furniture is common among young people
According to questMobile's "2021 Cutting-edge Brand Crowd Insight Report", Gen Z people under the age of 24 are more concerned about "trend consumption" and "second-hand transactions", and from the perspective of the active penetration rate of mobile shopping apps, second-hand consumption has become a major label of Gen Z. After doing luxury consumption research in North America, Europe and Asia, McKinsey & Company consulting has proposed that young consumers of Gen Z and millennials are more willing to buy second-hand used goods than consumers born in the 1960s and 1970s.
Not only second-hand luxury goods such as clothing, but also several pieces of old furniture and old objects in the home, which are also considered "tasteful" by many young people. Next to the latest sofa in Liu Wenxin's home, there are two chairs produced in 1970, "older than my own age"; a second-hand old lamp in the study, and the lamp beads that cannot be adapted on the market are all over the place, and finally someone is invited to find it from a shop that specializes in repairing second-hand household items. Du Churan ate breakfast and drank water at home, using Nordic medieval cups.
These second-hand goods often have the aesthetic characteristics of their birth years and have distinct characteristics of the times. The business premises of such second-hand goods often deviate from the traditional "shops" and become a new format that integrates commercial consumption, cafes and art exhibitions. Last year, Beijing's medieval furniture store "Back to the Twentieth Century" opened its first store in Shanghai, dedicated to the design gallery area, exhibiting artists' works, and founder Cao Feng once expressed a desire to pass on the "concept of a museum" to decorate the family. A design exhibition currently being held in the Sunken Plaza of Shanghai Bay in Xuhui District, organized by a design agency, brought products from the past of more than 130 designers and artists. "Residents in first-tier cities are very receptive to second-hand household items." Some operators told reporters, "Shanghai's young people are very good in terms of aesthetic literacy and international vision, from the Glasgow School to the Memphis style, they are willing to buy and use these second-hand objects, connecting their lives with history and the world." ”
Online is hot, offline is diverse
When the Yangpu Flower and Bird Antique Market on Longchang Road was named "the last flea market in downtown Shanghai" and rushed to the hot search, many netizens lamented that the second-hand market was gradually drifting away with urban renewal, and Yang Fei was used to finding the goods he wanted on the second-hand trading platform.
"Easy to search, easy to compare prices, from a shopping point of view, online second-hand transactions are much more convenient than offline second-hand markets." Yang Fei's feelings are also common to many users of second-hand trading platforms. According to the "Double 11" data released by a second-hand trading platform, from 20:00 on November 10 to 24:00 on November 11, the B2C business of 3C products such as mobile phones on the platform paid for more than 171,000 transactions, while the C2B mobile phone recycling business submitted more than 57,000 orders.
"On second-hand trading platforms, the identities of buyers and sellers often coincide, which can give a glimpse of the trajectory of consumption upgrades." On the owner's APP, which focuses on cultural play collectibles, the post-85 crowd accounts for more than 30%, and the post-90s and post-00s consumers grow faster. These young people initially consume mostly thousands of yuan of "entry" collections, and over time they often sell their original collections, and then buy higher-value objects, and buy and sell consumption "spirals upwards".
Not only that, the "second-hand idle groups" that are active in various communities and enterprises are also an important battlefield for second-hand commodity trading. Liu Wenxin's community WeChat group often has people who publish information about second-hand idle items, ranging from digital products, childcare products to household items, and owners who publish personal needs and psychological price points to "buy". Yang Fei originally lived in the Lianyang area of Pudong, and there were as many as 5 idle exchange groups in various communities, and the neighbors of the new community also sent qR codes for the community idle trading groups after moving. "These used trading platforms have a distinctly social character." Through second-hand transactions, Liu Wenxin got closer to several other "second treasure families" in the community. On a second-hand trading platform, netizens can enter several circles according to their interest in second-hand trading, and "circles" such as "ancient clothes", "Hanfu" and "hand-made" gather more people to communicate online.
Second-hand bookstores "Catch More Fish" are popular with young people
While online second-hand commodity trading is hot, offline second-hand stores have also appeared in a new posture, and features and niches have become the salient characteristics of these offline stores. In a shopping mall on Fuzhou Road, all kinds of animation hand-made shops are lined up, and a shop on the corner of the second floor specializes in collecting second-hand "monster" toys; another shop on the third floor recycles Ultraman dolls from different eras, cleans up and packs them, and sells them again. On Fumin Road, an antique luxury store, a whole wall is placed with a limited edition of a brand over the years, attracting many consumers to come to "punch in".
The multi-catch fish circulation shop, which specializes in the second-hand book trade, has now taken root on Anfu Road. Walking into the first floor of the store, an installation art exhibition made of second-hand clothing and dried plants is underway, and the winter costumes next to it emphasize "buy less and buy fine", and the second-hand books upstairs are supplemented. In addition, there has been a flea market here, focusing on records, daily necessities, toys and other items related to quality of life – a new spatial model based on second-hand books, combined with exhibitions and consumption, is exploring another possibility of "second-hand market".
It's not easy to say I love you
However, all the young people who are keen on second-hand trading visited by the reporter have said that they have had an unpleasant trading experience without exception.
The "old and new" battle for second-hand goods bears the brunt of it. Guo Peng once bought a wall-breaking machine on a second-hand trading platform, and the other party described it as "less than 10 times used" and "95% new". However, when the goods arrived, he found that there was deformation at the stainless steel blade and damage to the wire joint. However, the seller insisted that "it has been truthfully described" and said that "these problems can be seen on the photo", to which Guo Peng was very dissatisfied: "Without being reminded, who will enlarge the photo to see if the blade is deformed?" ”
The reporter's visit found that the degree of newness and oldness of the goods on the second-hand trading platform almost all depends on the seller's own determination, and there is no standard basis.
With the popularity of the second-hand market, all kinds of counterfeit goods have also appeared in the second-hand trading platform. Du Churan once spent 600 yuan to buy a bottle of perfume for 1350 yuan in the store, and found that there were problems in both taste and packaging after getting it, and the seller immediately agreed to return the goods after breaking the problem, but "can not leave an evaluation." Then she spent 600 yuan to buy a bottle from another seller, the other party promised to "inspectable", the so-called "inspection" is actually the seller according to her needs to provide photos from all angles, she then looked for online "paid identification" services. "At that time, the photos were sent to a third-party network for identification, and the conclusion was true." However, after Du Churan got the goods, he found that although the packaging looked fine, the taste was obviously fake, and after being introduced by the industry, he knew that someone had recycled the real bottle and poured it into the counterfeit perfume.
The reporter's search found that there are many "inspection" services on second-hand platforms, but in the eyes of professionals, this way of drawing conclusions based on only a few photos may not be able to truly determine the authenticity of goods.
"Nowadays, some people will take the medieval products bought online, let us see if they are true or false." Some second-hand luxury store operators revealed to reporters that in recent years, the price of some styles of second-hand luxury goods has risen, and new imitations of these products that have been suspended for many years have appeared. "Nowadays, many second-hand commodity transactions are done through the Internet, and there is no reference standard for the price of second-hand commodities, and it is impossible to get a counter for comparison, and it is difficult to distinguish the authenticity of 'old' fakes in the eyes of ordinary consumers."
Compared with first-hand consumption, which generally occurs between merchants and consumers, the relationship between second-hand transactions is often "person-to-person", and many sellers who sell second-hand idle items will also meet "strange buyers". Guo Peng once transferred a brand new set of duvets for 450 yuan, and the buyer signed for it and asked for a price reduction to 200 yuan for various reasons, which tossed for nearly a month. "Later, I learned that such consumers have a lot of second-hand trading platforms, and this behavior is called 'hand knife'." Since then, Guo Peng has recorded a video of the whole process of each shipment to store his own certificate.
It is reported that in response to these problems in second-hand transactions, various platforms are also focusing on improving. If a second-hand trading platform has launched a "inspection" service, the seller can send the goods to a third-party appraisal agency after the buyer pays, and after confirming that it is true, issue a certificate and send it to the buyer. Some insiders also suggest that we can follow the experience of countries with more developed second-hand transactions such as Japan and give specific standards for the classification of the degree of newness and oldness of goods.