Subito.it’s classifieds site is Italy’s market leader for buying and selling used goods. However, Italy is not the easiest market to promote second-hand trade. Italians are sometimes reluctant to buy used goods and, even when they do, they are not so willing to talk about it with their friends.
To challenge this attitude, Subito.it recently conducted a PR campaign to change the Italians’ perception of second-hand buying and selling.
What Subito.it wanted to achieve with the project is a positive change in people’s perception, positioning second-hand as a real economy for people who are smart and responsible.
Buying and selling used goods allow people to create changes in their lives more often (for example the furniture for their home), find unique pieces (like vintage dresses or accessories), help the environment (less CO2 emissions) and also earn money to increase their family budget.
Subito.it commissioned a study by the research institute Doxa, which showed that 44 percent of Italians have bought or sold second-hand goods in the last year, and the second-hand economy in Italy is worth Euro 18 billion, which is one percent of the Italian GDP.
Press conference
For the first time in Subito.it’s history, they invited media to a press conference to present the results of the study ‘Second-hand Economy’. Subito.it also asked the Italian sociologist Marco Pedroni and the famous fashion blogger Arianna Chieli to participate as third-party ambassadors, analyzing how the second-hand phenomenon is affecting people’s everyday life and values.
From left: Blogger Arianna Chieli talked about second-hand fashion and Melany Libraro presented the study results at the press event.
“We focused on who the person who is buying or selling used goods is. We wanted to highlight that quite often the typical user of our site is a very smart person who likes to have a selection of choices and who knows how to allocate his or her budget in an intelligent way, by purchasing both new and used goods,” says Melany Libraro, General Manager of Subito.it.
And the results have been quite impressive. So far the campaign and press conference have resulted in more than 70 pieces of press coverage, including two TV and two radio broadcasts in addition to many articles in both national and local newspapers and magazines.
Some of the Italian press coverage following the campaign, pointing out the potential in the Italian second-hand economy.
“And we are still expecting even more attention! We truly hope that this campaign will contribute to shift the Italians’ perception of second-hand from ‘cheap and poor’ to ‘smart and responsible’,” Libraro says.