By Soumitra Gupta

Asian countries are witnessing exponential growth in demand for refurbished products. With the growing focus on sustainability and circular economy, refurbished products are propelling a new trend in almost every business territory. The trend is progressively picking up strong momentum in India. Being one of the fast-growing economies, the country is ripe for new opportunities, and there is tremendous growth potential in the market for refurbished items. Major global businesses have started to realise that reuse and recycling have turned into major points of consideration. By encouraging refurbished products in the market, the nation will fuel greater progress in the economy, even aiming to firmly tackle environmental challenges which have long been the prevalent threat to life on this planet. 

Spotting the newly flourished trend in refurbished market

India is seeing a stellar uptrend in the refurbished markets with expectations of 2X growth by 2025. Especially tech-enabled products are leading in the league. The unpredicted demand for re-conditioned products has marked an all-time high in the nation and the global-pandemic-led work-from-home-culture can be perceived as the biggest influencing factor. Refurbished products are being sold actively around the world, still, India outperforms by a big margin. 

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The upswing is primarily the consequence of the pandemic – long working hours, a big cut in salaries, and the adoption of work-from-home culture are some prominent factors transforming people’s buying habits for electronic items like smartphones and laptops. These are the most commonly sold refurbished products category catering to the requirements of a customer by being available at up to 50-70 per cent cheaper than brand new devices. Being the second country with the most smartphone users after China, India’s refurbished smartphone market is likely to cross a $10 billion valuation by 2026. 

Now with organized players offering refurbished smartphones with warranty and excellent levels of repairs and refurbishment, the market is set to expand to all parts of the country with the help of the e-commerce model and doorstep delivery. The price factor also makes the deal attractive to the common man and more people are keen on the idea of refurbished purchasing. In a nutshell, refurbished items are emerging as a rewarding alternative to most brand-new offerings.  

What are the future prospects of refurbished products?

With accelerated internet connectivity, demand for refurbished products is likely to surpass the anticipated figures. A thriving e-commerce platform would be the biggest platform for these refurbished items. As more people will be ambitious to sell their existing products, the e-commerce platform will try to bridge the gap between prospective buyers and sellers and the widespread availability of 4G and 5G will be a helping hand. 

The biggest concern so far with refurbished items is reliability which will be smartly tackled with the e-commerce platform through interactive visuals for more transparency. Also, most businesses and startups are struggling to keep pace with existing brands and firms. Simultaneously, it may encourage them to tap into the relevant product sector and scale through refurbished items. As more and more citizens are opening to the concept of refurbished products, business opportunities are coming to the fore. 

However, affordability isn’t the only reason boosting the demand for refurbished items, but these are the features and functions that are loved by people in the previous model which may be lacking in the new one. Also, most techies prefer purchasing custom-made products that can be found at an affordable price tag from refurbished stocks. However, the feature is hard to access in brand new ones as the end cost turns out costlier but not in these refurbished options. 

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The key takeaways

The refurbished market is set to boom in India. The extraordinary growth has exclusively been driven by the change in buying habits of customers which itself has been sourced from impacts left on mindset by the global pandemic. People are now progressing more toward products that meet their requirements for functionalities and usefulness and are no longer excited about the brand-new appeal. If the refurbished product is serving the purpose at a much lesser cost, the demand for such refurbished smartphones is predicted to considerably rise in the coming years. 

(Soumitra Gupta is the CEO of XtraCover)