Refurbished, pre-owned smartphones rack up numbers as incomes shrink
Omni-channel goods’ resellers such as OLX, Quikr, Cashify and Yaantra are witnessing a flow in demand towards the organised refurbished and pre-owned smartphone market in just over a week of easing of lockdown restrictions.
by Himanshi Lohchab
New Delhi: The Covid-led disruption in the smartphone industry is opening up avenues for the refurbished and pre-owned devices category, which is seeing a demand shift from new devices due to dip in consumers’ disposable incomes.
Omni-channel goods’ resellers such as OLX, Quikr, Cashify and Yaantra are witnessing a flow in demand towards the organised refurbished and pre-owned smartphone market in just over a week of easing of lockdown restrictions.
The major challenge for the industry though is the continuous supply of smartphone parts from China, which is expected to normalise in 5-6 weeks, experts said. But for now, demand is picking up for this segment.
Cashify said that despite fewer people outside, it has seen a surge in demand in both online and offline channels for the week gone by. Yaantra said there has been a 30% rise in orders placed by offline retailers, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
Pre-owned goods reseller Quikr estimates a double-digit growth in the segment in the next two quarters, factoring in the immediate need for smartphones. Market intelligence firm Counterpoint Research predicts that while the new handset market will decline 10%, the refurbished category will decline by 4% and growth is expected in latter part of second half of the year.
Yaantra said that besides premium brands, which sell faster in the re-commerce market, mid-range brands such as Oppo, Vivo and Realme are also seeing traction with `5,000-8,000 being the most popular price band.
“Pre-owned smartphones owing to affordability continue to be of higher interest for consumers as rural internet users have surpassed urban internet users recently as per a report from IAMAI & Nielsen,” Tarun Sinha, head-horizontal business unit at OLX India, told ET.