Practical Ecommerce Merchant

March 26, 2025

Ecom and the Secondhand Boom

Ecommerce and the Secondhand Boom

The online market for secondhand apparel should grow 13% annually in the U.S. through 2029, reaching $40 billion, according to a study from ThredUp, the resale platform. Other sources, including Credence Research, have released similar growth estimates.

The surge is creating ecommerce opportunities.

Culture, marketplaces, and economics contribute to consumer demand for used clothing.

Environmentalism and sustainability likely influence some buyers. Often female, younger, and engaged in popular culture, these shoppers are aware of the environmental impact of fast fashion, leading them to seek more sustainable alternatives.

Marketplaces such as ThredUp, Swap.com, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace have all made finding used, returned, or overstock clothing easier, as they surface items that would have otherwise sold from brick-and-mortar shops or yard sales. Buyers seek items that might be trendy, vintage, or just hard to get.

Economics is also influencing consumers. The ThredUp study noted that secondhand garment and shoe sales took off in 2021, perhaps owing to the dual economic impacts of Covid and the first set of U.S. trade tariffs against China in 2018-19.

Brand Visibility Is the New SEO

Search engines drive brand discovery for genAI platforms and research for humans. Read article >

The Problem with Optimizing for GenAI

Clint Butler says the first hurdle is knowing which platform to optimize.

Read article >

From the Archive: June 2008

Magento Shopping Cart and 20,000 Friends

Roy Rubin held the cyber equivalent of a barn raising, and had several thousand of his closest friends over for the event. Of course, everyone actually did the work from home. The result is Magento... Read article >

📊 Ecommerce Chart

Charts: Tech investment benefits

🎙️ Ecommerce Conversations Podcast

Branding Is More Than a Logo
Margin Hacks for Cash-Strapped Ecom Stores

🎯 Industry IQ

Resources from our advertisers.

Turn Your Social Media into Sales Channels

Free, 30-minute streaming videos.

Drive More ROI from Meta and Google Ads

You are receiving this email at newsletter@newslettercollector.com because you opted on our Practical Ecommerce website to receive this newsletter. You can unsubscribe or update your email address anytime. View in browser.

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

To ensure this newsletter reaches your inbox, please add newsletter@mail.practicalecommerce.com to your contacts. Gmail users just drag this email to the "Primary" tab.

Practical Ecommerce; 4794 Grayhawk Blvd.; Traverse City, Michigan 49684 U.S.