A vast majority of Filipino millennials felt that buying pre-owned items is more sustainable as the global trend of recommerce (the buying and selling of pre-owned items) accelerated across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, an international study found.
Carousell Media Group (CMG) and IAB Southeast Asia and India (IAB SEA+India) published on July 13 the Millennial Motivations and Buying Behaviours Online across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong report, which indicated that 99 percent of millennials in the Philippines felt strongly that pre-owned purchases were more sustainable.
Overall, 95 percent of the over 3,500 respondents from Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia (markets for both Carousell and Mudah.my platforms), and Vietnam (market for Cho Tot) said they feel buying pre-owned items was sustainable, with 50 percent strongly agreeing to it.
Moreover, 84 percent of Filipino respondents under 35 years old claimed they use online market platforms to sell things to upgrade to something else, and that selling the item rather than disposing of it was better for the environment. This reason ranked higher in the Philippines than other markets.
The bags and wallets category has an over 30-percent-share in luxury items purchased last year, while for electronic items, gaming, mobile, gadgets or accessories was the top category followed by computer accessories and home and kitchen appliances, the report showed.
“Across all the local market research what was consistently obvious is that we are witnessing the explosive growth of recommerce as it feeds two key needs of consumers today; the demand for sustainability and the hunt for a good deal. This juncture of ethics and eCommerce creates fertile ground for retail media because of the interplay among customer data, closed-loop reporting, and real-world results that generate more and better data,” Miranda Dimopoulos, the regional CEO of IAB SEA+India said in a statement.
Also, CMG Managing Director JJ Eastwood said the recommerce trend gave a “unique opportunity” for brands to target millennial consumers who care about social issues such as sustainability, social responsibility, and climate change.
However, Eastwood noted that Singapore, Carousell Malaysia, and Hong Kong were above the purchasing average for luxurious products even during a global economic slowdown, signaling the “rise of an aspirational consumer class.”
CMG, the media arm of the Carousell Group, has partnered with not-for-profit advertising organization IAB SEA+India to conduct this study. The group is composed of Carousell, Mudah.my, Cho Tot, and OneKyat which have millions of users across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. Jelo Ritzhie Mantaring