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Turn the clock back by a few years and you will see that people normally refrain from buying refurbished smartphones for various reasons. More importantly, though, most people, even those who love technology, keep their smartphones for longer and only upgrade some years.
Now, though, people are not only opening up to the idea of buying refurbished devices but loving it. The refurbished smartphone market is set to grow exponentially this festive season, if industry experts are to be believed.
A massive uptick in sales of refurbished devices
During the upcoming festive season, experts in the industry and market analysts anticipate a massive uptick in revenue, year-on-year, in the refurbished market. This robust growth is expected to outperform the new phone segment, where the growth rate is projected at approximately 7 percent.
Companies like ReFit Global and Cashify, which specialize in selling refurbished phones and electronic devices, are also optimistic about a significant uptick in their revenues during the festive season.
Refit, for example, is confident that they will sell about 3.5 lakh smartphones during the Dusshera-Diwali festive season. They also expect that they, along with the rest of the refurbished smartphone market, will see revenues grow by 18 percent, year-on-year. Saket Saurav, a co-founder of ReFit Global, stated, “We have high expectations of tripling our revenue of achieving Rs 200 crore in the final three months of this year. This would surpass our revenue record for the fiscal year 2022 by December.” ReFit Global has established partnerships with major e-commerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon. It sells its devices through the e-commerce giants on its platform and a comprehensive channel of distributors.
Change in consumer behavior
One of the biggest reasons why more and more people are buying refurbished devices is the increased availability of these devices. Earlier, people would hold on to their smartphones for longer and only upgrade sometimes.
Now, thanks to the previous-gen devices becoming available at more significant discounts and an increased supply of premium devices, people are updating their phones more often.
An in-depth trends analysis by ReFit revealed that most people buy iPhones or devices from OnePlus. Devices like the iPhone 12 and 11 are in high demand and are just as readily available. As for Android-based devices, premium Samsung flagships like the Galaxy S21 and some of OnePlus’ flagships are in demand.
One of the reasons why Apple is particularly popular is its longer lifecycle compared to most Android flagships. Then, there is also the fact that Apple has an aspirational value like no other brand. Similarly, OnePlus, which built its reputation as the ‘Flagship Killer,’ is almost as popular as Apple.
Why are more people buying second-hand smartphones?
Affordability is one of many reasons people are going more for refurbished smartphones over brand-new devices. Smartphones have mostly stayed the same over the last few years and perform more or less the same. The areas where smartphone makers innovate are different from where customers see value.
Moreover, people have started to trust refurbished brands more now. Because platforms like Amazon and Flipkart are selling refurbished and renewed devices and backing most of these sales with their return policies, people started buying refurbished products from these platforms and trusting second-hand devices from reputable refurbishers and platforms.
What does the data suggest?
Refit’s sales over the last four years also suggest that more and more people are buying refurbished smartphones. In FY 2019-20, they sold 80,000 units; in FY 2020-21, about 110,000 units; and in FY 2021-22, they sold 247,000 units. In their last fiscal year, 2022-23, they sold 453,000 units.
Saurav explained that a robust demand for aspirational brands like Apple and OnePlus in major metropolitan areas surpasses the available supply. Consequently, this increased demand has driven up the availability of used phones.
