The secondhand market, which reached 26 billion euros ($28.8 billion) in 2019, is evidence of the evolving mentality of luxury goods buyers. That’s just one finding of the latest Bain & Company Luxury Study.
“We see the secondhand market as a potential avenue for luxury brands to reach a new audience and enlarge their customer base,” said Federica Levato, a Bain & Company partner and co-author of the study. “For many customers, this may be their first luxury purchase but luxury brands shouldn’t see this as a threat and should manage it strategically to grasp the full potential of this opportunity.”
According to the study, the luxury sector grew by 4 percent in 2019 to an estimated €1.3 trillion ($1.4 trillion) globally. The personal luxury goods segment also grew 4 percent, reaching €281 billion ($311 billion).
Within the personal goods segment, within personal luxury goods, shoes and jewelry stand out as the outperformers, both growing by 9 percent in 2019 while the sale of watches fell 2 percent.
Bain & Company expects the luxury customer base will expand to 450 million by 2025, up from 390 million in 2019, mainly because of the growing middle-class, especially from Asia. This will further stimulate the entry-price segments, which in 2019 represented 30 percent in the jewelry category.
