Love is very much still in the air for second-hand clothing in the UK as listings soar by a massive 1026%. The shifting of public opinion from buying second hand because it is a necessity, to shopping pre-loved because they want to, is a trend that is here to stay. According to e-commerce experts Optiseller, eBay are the true winners of Love Island 2022.
Debates around fashion and its impact on the environment have been ongoing for years, combined with the cost of living crisis, it makes sense that pre-loved clothing is becoming increasingly popular. However, it wasn’t until Love Island teamed up with eBay to encourage the buying of ‘pre-loved’ clothing that demand really started to take off.
Raymond Booth, Chief Technology Officer at Optiseller explains: “As data lovers and experts, we couldn’t wait to analyse the relationship between this exciting partnership and listing behaviours. We gathered data from selected fashion stores on eBay UK who have listed some of Love Island’s most loved, and similar, brands. We then monitored the number of listings pre and post partnership announcement and gathered sales data for these stores. We were then able to determine the impact of Love Island on the accessibility of pre-loved clothes on the marketplace.”
The Love Island effect on pre-loved clothing is undeniable. By examining the live listings on 28th of March, for example, we can see what listing behaviours were like before the partnership announcement. By comparing this to the 30th of May, just over a week after the announcement of eBay and Love Island’s partnership, there was a 990% increase in the number of live listings. Since then, the listings posted have been consistently higher than the beginning of the year. In the space of 3 months, listing numbers for pre-loved fashion increased exponentially, again taking the 28th of March- before the collaboration with Love Island, then comparing with the 27th of June- with Love Island in full swing, there was an increase in live listings in these weeks by a massive 1026%.
We also looked at the difference between men and women’s listings by brand, there is a clear difference between what is listed for men in comparison to women. Women have more high street brands at their disposal, which makes sense given the coming and going of trends in women’s fashion, whereas men’s trends are less fleeting. The top 5 clothing brands listed for men were higher end and designer brands such as Marks & Spencer, Hugo Boss, Polo Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren, and Superdry. Whereas the top listed brands for women’s clothing were Zara, New Look, ASOS, Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing. Having seen this data, it may surprise you that out of all brands analysed, Zara had the highest Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) of any clothing brand listed on eBay UK regardless of gender.
In terms of availability, women’s fashion had more listings by far with 21.9K stores listing used clothing in the brands assessed, and just 15.2K for men. There were 50% more listings for women’s pre-loved clothing than men’s. There is also a huge difference in average price for these pre-loved listings, sitting at £12.21 for women in contrast to £25.00 for men. Ultimately, the data shows that when it comes to affordable items, it is far simpler for women to shop pre-loved, but men have ready access to higher end pieces.
Richard Falconer, Chief Operations Officer at Optiseller adds: “The future of selling pre-loved items looks bright, with fashion leading the way for other industries. The burst in listings over the past 3 months has paved the way for development in this industry. There have already been various moves to improve the buyer and seller experience on the marketplace with authentication processes established, now that eBay have seen such an uplift, there’s no way they’ll be stopping here! This marks a new era of pre-loved selling with accessibility at an all-time high, and the influence of the Love Island cast shifting public opinion from buying second hand being a necessity, to shopping pre-loved because they can. Ultimately, I think we can all agree that eBay are the true winners of Love Island 2022.”
For more information – https://go.optiseller.com/press
