The second-hand market, a golden affair for mass distribution?

A supermarket in the Alpes Maritimes (Illustration).

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• For the past few months, all the major retailers have brought the second-hand market to the store.

• Customers can sell their items and walk away with cash or a voucher.

• Innovations that aim to take into account new consumption habits, but also to encourage customers to return to supermarkets.

Shopping at the supermarket… without spending anything or almost.

Said like that, the scheme seems suspicious, a bit like those badly written emails where you are told that you can get a huge inheritance very easily.

However, since the mass distribution has launched on the second-hand market, it is possible, in theory, to gain purchasing power by pushing your cart in the aisles.

The principle is simple, and copies that of stores specializing in consignment: consumers come with their items and leave with cash or a voucher, depending on the brands.

Leclerc was the first in this niche in 2018, with the creation of a “second-hand” area within its hypermarket in Roques-sur-Garonne (Haute-Garonne).

Obviously, the other distributors, always on the lookout for what the neighbor is doing, responded with their own concepts.

At the start of 2020, Auchan launched into second-hand clothing.

In the spring, Carrefour created its second-hand section in its store in Les Ulis (Essonne), where it is possible to drop off jewelry, smartphones, or even small household appliances.

And this summer, Système U and Cora have launched themselves with similar concepts.

Each time, these are experiments that concern a few stores (two for Carrefour, around thirty for Auchan) all over France.

If successful, all the major brands then wish to extend it to as many stores as possible.

" Save money "

This rush on this segment is no accident.

"The second-hand market, which has always existed in various forms, has taken a considerable turn with the generalization of the Internet," recalls Marc Filser, professor at the Institute of Business Administration (IAE) in Dijon.

From now on, platforms like Le Bon Coin or Vinted handle a large part of the transactions, and physical stores have remained a little away ”.

This is where supermarkets have a card to play: “Some consumers will never go through a platform.

The store has a reassuring side, ”continues Marc Filser.

Reassure ... and cash a few tickets in passing.

"The second-hand market will experience significant growth," explains

the representative of a

to

.

This allows us to offer an additional service and to attract different types of consumers, namely those who want to consume more responsibly, but also those who want to save money ”.

Illustration at Auchan, which therefore offers, since the beginning of the year, second-hand clothing in partnership with Patatam, a specialized company.

Customers drop off their clothes, of any brand, at Auchan.

For each bag deposited, they receive a voucher of 5 euros to be used in the clothing department.

The recovered textiles are sent to Patatam, which takes care of sorting, washing and restoring the products before returning them to the shelves.

"Each store sells an average of 15 second-hand parts per day, with an average price of 4.50 euros," says David Decovemacker, responsible for the partnership with Patatam at Auchan.

Discounted clothes which, like second-hand items, are increasingly appealing to consumers.

Make turnover

If supermarkets have such an appetite, it is because the second-hand market represents a bigger and bigger cake.

According to a study by Xerfi, it was estimated at 7 billion euros (excluding cars) in 2018. However, “the brands want to maintain attendance and a figure that tend to drop,” recalls Marc Filser.

A finding made by INSEE, which notes that the turnover of supermarkets and hypermarkets has stagnated since 2015 in the food industry.

It is even down for non-food (clothing, tools, stationery, etc.).

Offering second-hand products therefore makes it possible to attract people to the store… and to encourage consumption.

Most brands offer, as has been said, vouchers to those who come to sell their items.

To use them, you have to do your shopping in the hypermarket.

“Opening a second-hand corner (specialized shop located within a large brand) is all good for the hypermarket, Marc Filser analyzes.

The big box is going to use square meters that it already had, so it doesn't cost much.

And that can bring him clients ”.

At the risk of overshadowing its core business, namely the sale of new products?

No, because according to the experts interviewed by

these second-hand “corners” often remain marginal on the scale of a hypermarket, with a limited contribution to turnover.

Will this be enough, then, to stem the gloomy spiral of mass distribution?

"Hypermarkets must renew themselves if they do not want to close" warns Marc Filser.

"For twenty years, we have been told the end of the hypermarket and yet, it still weighs extremely heavy today: it is still the main place of purchase of the French", recalled for his part Christophe Burtin, partner at the breast from the strategy consulting firm Kea and Partners, in an interview with AFP in 2019. Mass distribution, like a liner difficult to maneuver, has therefore chosen to take the opportunity and

specialize in

(see box below below) to hope to avoid the iceberg of financial losses.

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The “corner”, a lifeline for hypermarkets?

They are all the rage in mass distribution.

The " 

 " or " 

 " (stores in stores) flourish in hypermarkets.

Usually, it is a brand or a specialized sign that sets up in the supermarket.

There are many examples.

Since last year, in several Casino stores, it has been possible to collect Ikea furniture.

At Carrefour, Darty already offers its washing machines and other televisions alongside fruit and vegetables.

And the childcare brand Aubert set up at the end of 2019 in a hypermarket of the brand, in Claye-Souilly (Seine-et-Marne).

Finally, at Auchan, a

 Boulanger

“ 

” has set up in Beauvais.

“The hypermarkets want to renew their image and strengthen their position on the non-food shelves,” explains Marc Filser.

Calling on specialized brands also makes it possible to reassure the consumer and to acquire know-how that the hypermarket does not necessarily have.

But beware the backlash "Install

is like a vast Tetris, to make room, you often move full of rays, including the sometimes frozen, and it's expensive (...) The return on investment is not guaranteed ”, explained in October 2019 David de Matteis, of the consulting firm OC & C, in an article of

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• Auchan

• Leclerc

• Sale

• Economy

• Supermarket

• Large distribution