Visa GlobeScan research, 20221
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The Recommerce Landscape
With the every-penny-counts effect of the emerging cost of living crisis and evident impacts of climate change, people are increasingly looking to adapt their behaviours to shop, use and consume more sustainably.
Unlocking the potential
For generations, many communities have relied on Recommerce as a lifeline to basic goods and services. With the every-penny-counts effect of the emerging cost of living crisis and evident impacts of climate change, most people are increasingly looking to adapt their behaviours to save money and consume more sustainably. Individuals and businesses are increasingly considering transactions to get better value for money and are motivated to participate in recommercial activities, especially resale, rental and repair, to meet their evolving needs. As sustainability, as well as cost, continues to become the expectation rather than the exception, individuals, communities and businesses need to rethink, innovate and scale opportunities to create an inclusive and sustainable future that benefits all.
Who is involved?
SMBs are offering Recommerce, and future appetite is high
Consumers are increasingly taking part, particularly younger generations
There is a need to address access and inclusion; with strong age trend leaving older groups and 55+ behind and those who need it most from lower income groups benefiting less from Recommerce
50% Europeans are taking part in at least one Recommerce activity twice per year
Top activities are Refill (64%), Redistribute (51%) and Resale (45%)
18‒34s are the main users of each Recommerce activity, except for Refill which is highly used among 35‒54s
Consumers on low incomes use Recommerce 20% less and are 21% less likely to engage in Recommerce activities in the future vs high income users
Knowledge of Recommerce is low
Despite many already being active in the space
Fewer than 1 in 5 consumers say they have knowledge of Recommerce
Only a small minority of SMB’s feel confident they know a lot about Recommerce areas e.g. 17% know about Resale vs. only 8% know about Redistribution
Recommerce is happening online
Where is Recommerce growing?
Visa GlobeScan research, 20221
Frequency of use: consumers
Knowledge of Recommerce is a Europe-wide shift. Refill, Redistribute, and Resale are most prevalent across markets – with an average of 64%, 52%, and 45% taking part at least twice per year respectively
Repair is more popular in Italy (38%), Poland (43%) and the UK (38%)
Return is more popular in Greece (45%) and Sweden (46% twice per year)
Rental over indexes in Poland (28% rent twice per year)
Redistribute is a frequent behaviour in France (56% do twice per year)
Future uptake: consumers
Frequency of use: SMBs
Recommerce accounts for half or more of turnover for 27% of SMBs in Sweden, and 23% of SMBs in France and Germany
57% Recommerce providers in Greece have an in-store/physical presence
Future uptake: SMBs
Current and future provision is highest in France
What is driving or limiting Recommerce?
Visa GlobeScan research, 20221
Motivators are financial and environmental
For consumers, financial motivators – saving or making money – are especially important for Resale purchasers (65%) and sellers (42%), as well as Rental users (47%) and Repair users (44%)
Environmental motivations are especially strong for Refill (52%) and Return (52%)
47% people want to change their lifestyle a great deal to be more environmentally friendly, but only 23% say they have made major changes in the past year
People and businesses are also driven by social impact
When choosing / buying a product 48% say that helping their community by buying locally, is important to them
36%
SMBs identify social impact as a motivator for expanding / starting Recommerce activities
26%
identify customer access to more affordable products/services as a motivator
24%
identify new jobs/new talent as a motivator
24%
identify improving community/local impact as a motivator
Businesses want to see the growth opportunity
Increasing sales/revenue is main motivator (31% providers, 34% non-providers)
Followed by reducing business costs/overheads (29%, 30%)
And finally, attracting new types of customer (28%, 30%)
Sources:
1 Visa GlobeScan research, 2022. The survey was commissioned by Visa and conducted between April and May 2022 by GlobeScan, an independent insights and strategy consultancy. The study surveyed 7,000 consumers and 1,750 micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), using established online research panels across 7 countries: France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Sweden, UK.