Second-hand hype: Vinted catches up with Primark in the UK

Vinted is expanding at lightning speed on the British market. In just eighteen months, sales have increased eightfold, with the Lithuanian second-hand platform already exceeding Primark‘s number of (cashless) transactions.

1 million transactions

The second-hand platform is growing exponentially on the British market, with an astonishing 680 % growth over the last eighteen months and even a double-digit growth from March to April in number of transactions (900,000 to one million). These are the findings of an analysis by data specialist CACI, which compared spending on 300 brands in the United Kingdom.

As a result, Vinted is closing in on Primark, despite its popularity on the UK high street. If only electronic payments are taken into account, Vinted even overtook Primark in March and April. An important sidenote on that is, however, that the number of cash payments made at the budget chain (which are not included in the survey) should not be underestimated.

More affluent consumers

According to the report, these results show the growing importance of second-hand fashion as a more sustainable and less expensive choice. Vinted has recently run advertising campaigns in the UK and collaborated with TV channels, but it is notable that the second-hand platform is also attracting increasingly affluent consumers.

Furthermore, with Vinted having a ‘strong ecosystem’ and high customer engagement, researchers wonder whether the platform will now want to attract more expensive products or encourage customers to buy multiple items at once.