Second-Hand Shopping: Exploring Shopper Motivations and Retail Implications

Abstract

Objectives: In view of growing interest in alternative retail channels and critiques of conventional consumer behaviour, this study aims to explore motivations underlying second-hand shopping, to categorize different types of second-hand shoppers and to describe implications for both research and retailing strategies (Guiot and Roux, 2010; Williams and Paddock, 2003).

Structure: The paper is structured as follows: (1) analysis of existing literature on second-hand shopping behaviour concept and its elements; (2) development of a conceptual model; (3) identification and exploration of the factor structure (motivations) and related cluster segments based on these motivations, and the link to second-hand shoppers’ intention and behaviour. The study sample included male and female of ages eighteen and older. A total of 250 interviews were conducted in the winter of 2011; (4) results’ discussion with reference to retailing implications and further research steps.

Results: Based on the resulting factor structure and cluster analysis, we identified different types of second-hand shoppers who can be distinguished along their intentions and motivations: austere critical austere; selfish hedonists; careless collectors.

Conclusions: The results show and confirm that critical consumption (Iyer e Muncy, 2009), although established in recent times, is not tied exclusively to the economic crisis, but to the crisis of traditional patterns of consumption and to a kind of consumer reaction against the conventional system (Bardhi e Arnould, 2005). The better understanding of the phenomenon of second-hand shopping is valuable to both researchers and marketers. In sum, we highlight some motivations only marginally considered in the literature as the critical one and the one about collecting. Moreover, the analysis shows that second-hand shopping should not be considered a fad, but a new market, prospering and expanding, which will strengthen more and more in the future. Retail firms should, therefore, learn to manage and govern this market, especially in certain product categories and customer segments.

Note: Downloadable document is in Italian.

Keywords: Second-hand shopping, Critical Consumer, Retail, Segmentation, Shopping Motivations

JEL Classification: M30, M31