Exploring young consumer's adoption of secondhand luxury: insights from a qualitative study

This study explores reasons for and against secondhand luxury (SHL) fashion adoption among young consumers in an emerging nation, India. As a trend, SHL has witnessed tremendous growth in the past few years, but scholarly interest remains scant.

Drawing from an interpretivist paradigm, this study uses an exploratory qualitative approach with 26 semi-structured interviews with SHL buyers, analyzed using NVivo software.

The findings shed significant light on value drivers and find support for status value, uniqueness value, quality value and monetary value, while adding the role of emotional value in reasons for SHL adoption. The results reveal an interesting trait of Indian consumers: price, fashion and celebrity association outweigh sustainability concerns, where an attitude–behavior gap is observed. Also, the findings add depth to risk perceptions as a major reason against SHL adoption.

While most existing studies have only focused on the motivational drivers, this study offers in-depth insights into the growing SHL literature by drawing attention to the enablers and equally important inhibitors by applying the novel Behavioral Reasoning Theory. It also intends to enhance practitioner knowledge in understanding a culturally diverse market and developing strategies relevant to a new set of consumers. The study calls for SHL retailers to sensitize young consumers in India about the sustainability aspect of SHL consumption, which is currently less appreciated.