Second-hand and naturalness trends can no longer be ignored

At our Annual Consumer Conference held in Paris on 23rd-24th September, we hosted two roundtables on: i/ the second-hand market, ii/ the naturalness trend. These meetings brought together key players from the consumer industry including managers from established retailers/brands and tech companies, as well as consultants.
The rise of new generations and digitalisation is amplifying the trend towards a circular economy and the search for authenticity, historically still present in our societies, but which are now becoming structural trends.
Moving from niche to real market status, the second-hand and naturalness segments are already diffusing into our consumer segments and we believe they harbour multiple opportunities for established brands and retailers as well as for start-ups. Fashion, consumer electronics and luxury are especially concerned by second-hand goods while food and cosmetics are more linked to naturalness.
The markets gravitating around the second-hand and naturalness trends are not yet fully structured and remain very fragmented. At the same time, major historical players are challenged to remain trend-focused and competitive in a constantly changing market environment. As their internal efforts are often not enough to get ahead of the pack, major consumer groups are increasingly motivated to either partner or acquire young specialists in a bid to leverage their know-how and roll it out across their global operations. Across the segments previously mentioned, we have identified several that are conducive to M&A operations in coming months and years.