Clothing Is First Choice for Second-Hand Shoppers

Despite inflation cooling off slightly in recent months, prices for many everyday products remain significantly higher than the were two years ago. In light of higher price levels, buying second-hand products is often a viable option to save some money without making too many sacrifices. Whether it’s clothes, electronic devices or household goods, online platforms have made selling and buying used goods a lot easier in recent years.

But despite Macklemore’s 2012 smash hit “Thrift Shop” celebrating the hunt for used clothes with only “20 dollars in your pocket”, Statista Consumer Insights data suggests that buying second-hand is not too common among Americans. According to a survey of 10,000 U.S. adults, clothing and shoes are first choice when it comes to second-hand shopping, but with just 31 and 21 percent of respondents claiming to have made a second-hand purchase of clothing or shoes, respectively, in the past twelve months, it's hardly fashionable to go "thrifting".

The share of respondents buying second-hand is even lower for other categories, with just 14 percent saying they bought used consumer electronics in the past 12 months, which is surprising given the size of the secondary market for smartphones for example.