Text: Connected Fish
A recent study shows that the number of waste mobile phones in the hands of our people is staggering, and more than 2 billion old mobile phones are idle, and more than half of them, about 54.2% are left at home by their owners to "eat ashes".
This means that we have a huge pool of resources that are not being used effectively.
The recycling and reuse of old mobile phones is a promising area
A veteran trainer in the communications industry has been working in this field for more than 10 years. He pointed out that the profit margin of each second-hand mobile phone can reach 20%-30% from recycling to resale.
And after consumers sell their old phones, the budget pressure when buying a new phone will be reduced accordingly.
But the reality is that despite the huge potential of the second-hand mobile phone market, most mobile phone retailers are "wearing out their mouths", and consumers still tend to leave their old phones at home.
The reason for this is that the key to the successful recycling of old mobile phones in the hands of consumers lies in the professionalism and service process of retailers. They need to master a set of professional words, according to a reasonable price evaluation system, to dispel consumers' doubts about the security of personal information, and to provide reliable and high-quality after-sales protection.
Veterans said that the current recycling target set by the industry for mobile phone retail stores is 30% "following the probability", that is, for every 100 new mobile phones sold, at least 30 old mobile phones can be recycled.
But in reality, this number is far below the ideal value, with an average follow-up rate of only 10%, and even high-performing merchants can only reach 50%.
Let's take a look at a set of data, the statistics of the China Chamber of Commerce for Circular Economy show that the average service life of mobile phones in mainland China is only 2.2 years, more than 400 million waste mobile phones are produced every year, and the accumulated stock of waste mobile phones has exceeded 2 billion.
Unfortunately, only about 5% of these old phones are properly recycled through formal channels such as professional recycling platforms and trade-in campaigns.
How to crack this sleeping "mountain of gold"?
On March 1 this year, the "Action Plan for Promoting Large-scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Trade-in" clearly stated that it is necessary to solve the pain points in the transaction of second-hand electronic products, such as strengthening the standardization of the second-hand mobile phone market to prevent user information leakage and malicious recovery.
Since 2010, many Internet platforms have rushed into the second-hand mobile phone market, but due to the imperfect recycling system, insufficient recycling capacity, lack of unified standards and specifications, and imperfect platform management, it has not yet been able to create a truly "standardized and healthy" second-hand mobile phone market.
In the face of this sleeping "golden mountain", how to solve the problem of recycling waste mobile phones and achieve efficient and standardized recovery and recycling is a social issue that we urgently need to solve.
For example, establish and improve a scientific and fair recycling valuation system to ensure the security of users' personal information and relieve consumers' worries; improve the supervision of second-hand mobile phone trading platforms, standardize the transaction process, and put an end to illegal disclosure and recovery of user information; encourage and support enterprises to increase technology research and development and equipment renewal, and improve recycling capacity and resource recycling level.
Only in this way can we truly wake up this "golden mountain" and give new life to used mobile phones, which not only protects the environment, but also promotes resource recycling, and realizes the dual benefits of economy and ecology.
The transformation of China's second-hand mobile phone market: from chaotic beginnings to standardized operation
If you ask me about the growth process of China's second-hand mobile phone market, I will tell you that this is simply a 20-year history of struggle to "fight monsters and upgrade".
In 2005, when the mobile phone market began to take shape, the total sales of mobile phones in China reached 85.33 million units, and Nokia led the way with sales of more than 20 million units.
Ironically, the recycling rate of used mobile phones at the time was pitifully low, with Nokia's survey showing that the recycling rate of used mobile phones in China was only 1%.
Although some mobile phone manufacturers have begun to get involved in the recycling business at that time, the overall market is still dominated by mobile vendors and small shops in the streets and alleys, information asymmetry, lack of standardization, and the second-hand mobile phone market is still in the initial stage of savage growth.
The turning point came in 2007, when Steve Jobs was born with the iPhone, opening a new era of smartphones and rewriting the pattern of the mobile phone market.
With the iterative upgrading of iPhone, the transaction volume of second-hand iPhone has surged, becoming a powerful force in the second-hand mobile phone market. Shenzhen Huaqiangbei, the stronghold of second-hand iPhones, once dominated the pricing power and circulation channels of the second-hand mobile phone market.
Here, a large number of foreign mobile phones go through complex processes such as buying, selling, repairing, disassembling and refurbishing, forming the core of a gray area.
However, as time went on, the mode of operation of the second-hand mobile phone market began to change. In 2013, the first batch of smart phones began to appear replacement demand, the circulation value of second-hand mobile phones increased, but the price of new phones increased year by year, and a new iPhone was even close to 10,000 yuan.
At this time, merchants keenly grasped the huge business opportunity of "trade-in". Some professional practitioners believe that "it is very common for consumers to come to buy new mobile phones with old mobile phones, which gives the 'old for new' business to have the soil for development."
Apple has played a leading role in standardizing the second-hand mobile phone market.
In 2016, Apple launched the "Annual Renewal Program" for the recycling of old mobile phones around the world, allowing consumers to use their old mobile phones to offset the cost of new phones every year, up to 6,500 yuan.
In addition, Apple's official store has also sold officially refurbished iPhone 6 series models, which sold out quickly. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that more than one-third of users will choose the "trade-in" program when buying a new device.
Huawei is also actively promoting the launch of the "Huawei Environmental Recycling Service", which emphasizes the recycling of old mobile phones for scrapping and dismantling and resource extraction, so as to maximize the recycling and reuse of electronic waste.
As early as 2015, Huawei has launched a "trade-in" business covering Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi and other friendly brands, which has created a precedent in the domestic mobile phone industry.
Not only that, domestic mainstream e-commerce platforms have also joined the "trade-in" army early, and continue to stimulate consumers to participate in trade-in activities through subsidy policies, such as investing 200 million yuan in subsidy funds in 2023, effectively promoting a 100% increase in new product sales.
Therefore, China's second-hand mobile phone market has moved from the chaos and disorder in the early stage to standardization and transparency, which is not only driven by policy guidance and corporate responsibility, but also driven by the change of consumer concepts and changes in market demand.
In the future, with the deepening of environmental awareness and the development of circular economy, the second-hand mobile phone market is expected to achieve a greater leap on the basis of green and orderly, and it is also a promising cause.
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