Nearly half of online shoppers are choosing preloved gifts this festive season

Pre-loved Christmas presents continue to surge in popularity with almost half (44 percent) of online shoppers turning to marketplaces for gifts this festive season, according to a survey of more than 50,000 online shoppers by parcel carrier Yodel.

With platforms like Vinted seeing a sharp rise in orders over recent months, the proportion of people saying they’re buying preloved gifts has risen by 12 percent year-on-year and 20 percent of online shoppers say they are doing their Christmas shopping exclusively via marketplaces.

The increase in gifting from online marketplaces reflects an overall trend of consumers turning to the second-hand market to address concerns around the sustainability of purchases. Many are also looking to second-hand gifting to save money on their Christmas shopping, with over a third (34 percent) saying they will be trying to find more deals this year.

Deliveries from the likes of Vinted and eBay operate through Yodel’s Consumer to Consumer (C2C) service with the carrier recently expanding its partnership with Vinted to significantly increase the parcels it will handle in the next few years. Yodel has been handling over a million parcels a week ahead of the festive peak through its Out of Home (OOH) network of over 6,000 click and collect and send locations nationwide. With the growing interest in preloved gifting, the business expects this to grow significantly in the run up to Christmas.

Shopping earlier

With marketplaces requiring a longer delivery lead time, the new research also found that people are doing their Christmas shopping earlier, with a quarter (26 percent) of online shoppers planning to finish their Christmas shopping this month.

Mike Hancox, CEO of Yodel, commented: “This latest data reflects the ongoing trends we have seen in recent years towards preloved gifting as consumers look for better deals and more sustainable options to save money and reduce their carbon footprint. Throughout the year we have expanded our OOH network to continue meeting the sustained growth in C2C deliveries and consumer demands for greater convenience.

We would encourage everyone looking at online marketplaces for gifts this Christmas to get their orders placed as soon as possible to ensure sellers facing high demand are able to check last sending dates and send orders in time.”

Image courtesy of Unsplash. Photo credit: Kira auf der Heide.