Vinted growth continues as consumers focus on value - CACI report

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
June 19, 2023

The strength of both Vinted and the value-focused resale sector can be seen in a new report that shows the website’s fast growth in recent periods.

The first point is that the Vinted marketplace has matched high street fashion/lifestyle retailer Primark for the number of cashless transactions in March and April, according to a new set of figures.

Data specialist CACI’s new platform, Brand Dimensions, compares spend across 300 well-known brands representative of the UK market, and shows that both Vinted and Primark delivered nearly 900,000 cashless transactions in March and upped this to nearly 1 million in April.

That’s a big deal for Vinted with the data highlighting its exponential growth of Vinted as it has multiplied its transaction numbers seven-fold in 18 months.

The numbers also show increasing consumer demand for value retail, both online and offline, and the generational shift in spending patterns from young people.

Propelled by advertising campaigns and recent partnerships with Channel 4 and ITV, as well as changing consumer behaviour, when it comes to buying second-hand goods, Vinted has seen 680% growth over the last 18 months.

While the data only accounts for cashless purchases, and the ATV (Average Transaction Value) for physical stores-based Primark sits slightly higher than Vinted, “it shows the growing relevance of pre-loved fashion, as a more sustainable and lower value choice”, the report claims. 

Further performance insights show Primark has maintained a consistent customer profile in the last 18 months. Vinted, however, typically over-indexes for mid-affluence groups, but is increasingly appealing to higher affluence, we’re told.

Other data on physical fashion retail shows all city centres have reduced their clothing and footwear provision, as have 99% of major town centres and 93% of regional malls, “pointing to a significant change in destination approach and the evolving online and pre-loved fashion market”.

Rachael Bedford, Brand Dimensions Lead at CACI, said: “By mirroring the cashless transaction level of one of the most popular high-street brands, Vinted is illustrating its ability to attract more users, drive better engagement, and deliver a solid ecosystem which is accessible and user-friendly. 

“Given Vinted’s very low-price points, it does raise questions as to whether the brand will continue on this path, or perhaps take advantage of customer engagement to drive higher-value items and support multi-item purchases.”