- Shoppers are increasingly turning to resale sites to source hard-to-find holiday gifts.
- OfferUp found that consumers are hunting down PlayStation 5 consoles and cars on its site.
- Artificial Christmas trees have also been among the top searches since November.
You've probably heard the warnings: Holiday gifts are going to be in short supply, hard to find, or they'll take forever to get here.
It's been a constant refrain since well before the "official" holiday shopping season kicked off on Black Friday. Retailers have been urging consumers to shop early and often, warning of shipping delays and stocking issues as we get closer to Christmas.
These challenges have motivated shoppers to seek out new ways of sourcing hard-to-find gifts and decor: namely, resale sites.
According to data from OfferUp, a resale marketplace that boasts 56 million annual users, consumers are increasingly turning to what it calls "recommerce" to purchase everything from furniture to electronics and even cars. OfferUp found that 48% of Americans used a secondhand marketplace in 2020, and in 2021, about 25% plan to use resale sites to find holiday gifts and decor, according to an October survey of 1,612 OfferUp users.
And, as retailers encouraged shoppers to buy early, it appears that they were listening: OfferUp found that searches for holiday gifts began spiking as early as August.
OfferUp's survey also found that shoppers are indeed seeking out hard-to-find items on resale sites: About one-third of shoppers said they've sought out scarce items on resale sites in 2021 and about half say they plan to continue searching on secondhand sites if shortages continue next year.
OfferUp's data lines up with an October report from resale marketplace Mercari, which found that Americans are projected to spend over $160 billion on secondhand goods this year. Mercari estimates that as many as 75% of US adults have bought something secondhand in the last 12 months.
"Three-quarters of adults participating in the reuse ecosystem shows that buying secondhand is now almost as commonplace as going to the grocery store," Mercari CEO John Lagerling wrote.
Searching for cars and electronics secondhand
So what are shoppers hunting down this year? Cars, electronics, and Christmas decor.
OfferUp found that the top two search terms on its site this year were "Chevrolet Silverado" and "PlayStation 5," respectively.
A global shortage of computer chips stemming from heightened consumer demand and pandemic disruptions has led to shutdowns of automotive productions lines. One analyst estimated there could be as many as 7.7 million fewer vehicles made this year, leading to $210 billion in lost revenue for automakers. General Motors, which makes Chevrolet vehicles, shut down production at some of its plants in September, although by November, the company announced that all of its North American plants were back online.
Still, the Chevy Silverado remains one of the most popular cars in America behind the Ford F-150, so it's no surprise that it's popular on resale sites as well.
The PlayStation 5 is being hampered by the chip shortage, too, which has hit game console-makers particularly hard. Sony warned in February that it was having trouble making more units of the PS5, which came out last year. Hiroki Totoki, Sony's chief financial officer, blamed the "shortage of semiconductors and other components."
He later told analysts that Sony didn't expect the issues to abate anytime soon.
"I don't think demand is calming down this year," he said, according to Bloomberg. "Even if we secure a lot more devices and produce many more units of the PlayStation 5 next year, our supply wouldn't be able to catch up with demand."
And on Wednesday, Walmart stocked the PS5 for its Plus members, only for the console to sell out in less than an hour.
Now, as the holidays approach, OfferUp is seeing a surge in searches for other popular products: Peloton products have seen an 85% spike, and Pokémon cards, the Nintendo Switch, Yeezy shoes, and Squishmallows have seen a jump as well.
But big-ticket gifts like cars and game consoles aren't the only items in short supply: Christmas decor is hard to find too, and shoppers are now hunting for it on resale sites.
OfferUp found that "Christmas tree" has been one of the 25 most-searched-for items since November, which makes sense: Artificial Christmas tree prices have jumped as the companies who produce them struggle with ongoing supply chain turmoil worldwide, The Wall Street Journal reported. Congested ports mean deliveries of new trees, wreaths, and garlands are delayed, and soaring shipping costs have caused some retailers so raise their prices as much as 25%.