Beyond fashion, can Vinted create a second-hand success story in other industries?

The growth of second-hand shopping has been a much-discussed trend in the ongoing cost of living crisis. Data from YouGov Profiles shows a third of Britons(33%) say they buy used items at least once every three months.

Second-hand app Vinted has been a beneficiary of this trend, noteably in the world of fashion. Here the brand performs very favourably, according to YouGov BrandIndex data. Impression scores, which measure general likeability, are at 27.3; more than twice the scores of the average UK clothing & apparel brand (12.3). While it’s perhaps no surprise that the brand is competitive in terms of Value scores – at 21.3 it is more than six times the typical UK fashion retailer – it also slightly outperforms on Quality (13.7 vs. 13.0). Customers are also broadly happy with their pre-loved purchases from Vinted, registering Satisfaction scores of 24.3 to a clothing industry average of 10.4.

But fashion is only one of Vinted’s target markets. The brand’s leaders have spoken about their desire to move into other categories as part of the “normalisation of second-hand”, and have already made forays into technology and books (among other things). When we look at retailers in these categories, our data shows the brand is still strong. Vinted’s Impression scores (27.3) heavily outperform those of high street retailers (15.3) and general retailers (Vinted: 27.3; High Street Retail: 16.4; General Retail: 12.5), and the same is true across other categories such as Value (V: 21.3; HSR: 6.4; GR 6.4) and Satisfaction (V: 24.3; HSR: 15.2; GR: 12.0). It slightly underperforms the high street on Quality (V: 13.7; HSR: 15.1: GR: 10.8), but it is a second-hand retailer competing against new products, and it still exceeds scores for general retailers.

Perhaps most importantly, Vinted is more than twice as likely  – to be considered by consumers as brands in any of these sectors (V: 33.9; C&A: 9.4; HSR: 15.3; GR: 12.5). The brand’s combination of low costs, a wide range of products, and eco-friendly messaging may have appeal well beyond the world of fashion.

This article originally appeared in City A.M.