Women’s fashion was the top searched secondhand category in the Philippines, according to online marketplace Carousell.
The Carousell Group‘s report titled “The Carousell Recommerce Index 2021” released December showed the rise of secondhand shopping in Southeast Asia.
The report found that Filipino shoppers have bought the most under the category of “Women’s Fashion” for three consecutive years on the platform since 2018.
This category topped rankings for the most supply and the most demand for secondhand products on the platform.
In 2020, the top three choices of Filipino shoppers are:
- Women’s Fashion
- Men’s Fashion
- Cars for Sale
The top searched items on Carousell are women’s bags and wallets, the report added.
The trends for keyword searches, on the other hand, were described as “rocky” in the report since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rising demands for face masks and used cars were also recorded in February 2020.
“Demand for masks spiked in February as Covid-19 cases were recorded. Demand for used cars increased accordingly, as a prudent and safe way to commute,” the report said.
“Users searched for both car brands and models, as well as broad keyword searches with location qualifiers such as ‘used cars in Manila’. BMW was a popular search term across new and used cars throughout the period,” it added.
For the rest of 2020, searches for electronics and fashion items were consistently leading on the charts.
“Resilient items were electronics and fashion, with specific brand searches ZARA and keyword searches for laptops holding steady throughout the last 1.5 years. Luxury brands such as CHANEL also saw an upward trend, after the initial dip at the start of the pandemic,” the report said.
Respondents were found to be motivated by secondhand goods’ prices in their purchasing choices. Filipinos joined those from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore in stating that used items offered more “value for money.”
“When it comes to the main reasons for choosing secondhand, pragmatism comes out tops. The most popular reason across the region was value for money, with 68% of total respondents choosing this reason,” the report said.
“This is most apparent in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines, with over 70% of respondents selecting this,” it added.
Reused and recycled items were also bought on Carousell with “environmental sustainability” as a second driving factor for consumers in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.
The data was consolidated from surveying 3,029 of its users in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The survey was conducted in June 2021.
