The used goods market is booming in China. Goofish (闲鱼, Xianyu) Alibaba’s second-hand marketplace has been expanding offline after seeing over 600 million registered users and average daily transactions of over 1 billion RMB (136.72 million USD). The platform opened its first Jiangsu recycle shop in Nanjing on 18 January and announced its plan to open 100 stores in the next 5 years. In the meantime, international retail brands such as MUJI from Japan and IKEA from Sweden have been experimenting with the used market in China.
Japanese lifestyle brand MUJI launched its used section at its largest store opening in Beijing in February 2024. By the end of 2025, there will be three MUJI shops that provide furniture resale services across Beijing and neighbouring Tianjin. More stores will also provide recycling services for bottles and clothing. MUJI recently released its quarterly report for the three months ending on 30 November 2024, stating that it had witnessed growth in both revenue and profit in the Mainland China market. Sales from shops and e-commerce also grew 10%.
IKEA, on the other hand, teased its used furniture sales services in April last year before test launching it in Shanghai in June. However, due to the low buy-back prices and lack of pick-up services for furniture, many potential sellers still prefer platforms such as Goofish.
Brands like H&M, Zara, Lululemon and Uniqlo have been offering used and restored items in the West and Japan for a while, but it is still catching on in China. The younger generations, such as the post-90s and post-00s generations (late Millennials and Gen Z) are especially invested in the “green consumption” concept, but the main reason always comes back to the cost-effectiveness of used items. However, faced with e-commerce platforms such as Taobao and Goofish, the question is how brands can establish themselves as the preferred sellers.
