Daniel Somolinos Madrid

Madrid

Updated Tuesday, March 12, 2024-00:29

Faced with inflation that does not subside, second-hand markets have become an upward alternative for many citizens

who do not want or cannot make payments for new products

.

They see in these already used objects the perfect complement they were looking for.

For example,

the bicycle, which has become the queen

of the Milanuncios trade.

"It has been for the last three years, it has no rival.

It is followed by sofas and PlayStation

, especially old models. A Play 3 is enough for them to spend some time at

a lower price

," Íñigo Vallejo, spokesperson for Milanuncios, tells this newspaper. , highlighting the Community of Madrid, which leads this market at a national level.

The region also leads the number of purchases and sales on Wallapop, an application that has gone from 170,000 users to nearly 17 million in the last decade.

In these 10 years it has given a second chance

to more than 640 million products

, or what is the same: as if each person registered in Spain had sold more than 13.5 objects.

This company has studied that

the preferred day to buy and sell items is Mondays

, with January being the month with the most movement, especially after the Christmas holidays.

Likewise,

prime time

for searches and acquisitions occurs at 8:00 p.m., "the time when there is a peak of active users and activity on the platform."

Regarding the most in-demand products, and despite the fact that Samsung Galaxy mobile phones are the devices that lead Wallapop's top sales every year, there are three categories that are most successful among Madrid residents.

The first is Fashion and Accessories

, highlighting here sunglasses, dresses and bags (specifically, party dresses and leather bags), followed by jeans and t-shirts.

In addition, this company adds that

October is the month in which the most wedding dresses are sold

, and that in 2022 the record for the maximum number of purchases of guest dresses was broken: 143% more than in 2021 and 159% more than in 2019. "Some of the most purchased fashion brands include Zara, Tous and Bershka," they highlight.

The Home and Garden

sections complete the podium ,

with sofa beds as kings of this section, followed by dining tables and chairs;

and

Children and Babies

, since the price of some of these new objects, such as strollers, are quite expensive and many users do not care that they have already been used.

With all this movement, Wallapop has not only increased its turnover by 260% in the last four years, it promotes the so-called circular economy and sustainability.

"In a recent study, developed in collaboration with Deloitte, a saving during the year 2022 of 22,000 tons of plastic

is revealed

, enough to create a line of inflatable flamingos from Madrid to Oslo," Wallapop explains to this newspaper.

Along these lines, Milanuncios highlights that this market is increasingly "normalized" in the Community of Madrid, and "not only for economic reasons."

"

Environmental issues also move Madrid residents

, who choose to give a second life to their belongings," adds Vallejo.

With more than 14.4 million objects published during 2023, Milanuncios highlights categories such as Home and Garden or Technology, where many users sell to buy newer models.

"

They get rid of their iPhone 11 to buy the 12

, for example, but this does not happen in Fashion or Motor: the intention in both is to recover some money."

It is precisely Motor where another product stands out that, a priori, might surprise:

motorhomes

.

These, along with the camper vans, register "peaks" in the region "because the person looking for these vehicles is the people of Madrid, who on their vacation want to travel the world. It is a transport that has

a demand and a supply that stands out

," adds the Milauncios spokesperson.

And Vallejo himself concludes with another curiosity: "In the capital we see a lot of demand based on the regional festivals. And I give an example: facing the April fair we see many requests for Sevillian costumes, something that is repeated for the San Fermines or the Fallas... The Madrid native

uses the second hand to adapt to the regional festivals

of the rest of Spain."