Xinhuanet, Beijing, April 9 (Reporter Ling Jiwei) The "Study on the Social and Economic Value of Idle Second-hand E-commerce Platforms" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") jointly released by the Research Group of the Institute of Finance and Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Chinese Market Society on April 8 shows that as part of the circular economy and the sharing economy, idle second-hand e-commerce plays an increasingly important role in promoting consumption, promoting entrepreneurship and employment, implementing old-for-new policies, and promoting green development.

  Idle second-hand e-commerce refers to the act of buying, selling, renting, replacing, and donating idle items that the owner of the item will no longer use but still have useful value through the e-commerce platform. The items will be recirculated through transactions, so that the idle items can maximize the value utilization rate during their life cycle. The report shows that idle second-hand e-commerce platforms can accelerate the circulation of goods and purchase frequency, stimulate the renewal of new products, and play a role in expanding consumption. According to the "Report", for every 1% increase in idle second-hand e-commerce transaction volume in cities, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 0.1%.

  "The effect of second-hand e-commerce on promoting consumption is very obvious, which reflects the current trend of diversified and layered consumption." Li Mingtao, chief e-commerce expert of China International E-Commerce Center, believes that second-hand e-commerce helps consumers deal with old products in shortcuts and stimulates their willingness to buy new products. These second-hand products will become new purchase targets for consumers in other circles, thus forming a new consumption cycle. In the future, second-hand e-commerce platforms should strengthen investment in guarantee mechanisms such as product quality, source, certification and quality control, and further reduce consumers' choice costs.

  Wang Wei, former director of the Market Economy Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council, believes that the booming second-hand trading market is closely related to high-quality consumption, quality improvement and upgrading of consumption, consumption stratification and circular economy development. The expansion and spillover effects of second-hand transactions are both very strong. Second-hand e-commerce platforms are not limited to providing commodity transactions. They have great room for expansion and cross-border integration, which not only promotes the development of the sharing economy, but also drives a new round of consumption and the emergence of new business models.

  While promoting consumption, idle second-hand e-commerce is creating new momentum for innovation and entrepreneurship. The report pointed out that idle second-hand e-commerce mainly promotes innovation and entrepreneurship through two paths. On the one hand, the idle second-hand e-commerce platform provides an experimental field of innovation and entrepreneurship, which can help small and micro enterprises and individual entrepreneurs improve their entrepreneurial skills and literacy; on the other hand, the idle second-hand e-commerce platform has expanded the innovation and entrepreneurship scenarios by promoting personal skills and idle time trading services. Taking Xianyu platform as an example, Xianyu not only has the characteristics of a general e-commerce platform, but also has the characteristics of low thresholds, allowing users to sell idle items without high start-up capital or complex commercial operations. This low-threshold entrepreneurial environment has inspired individuals to become small and micro entrepreneurs, earn income by selling second-hand goods, and become familiar with various skills in e-commerce operations in the process of selling second-hand goods. In addition, a variety of service transactions based on personal skills and idle time have emerged on the Xianyu platform, allowing individuals to easily convert their skills or time into economic value.

  In addition to the platform's own sellers and employees, idle second-hand e-commerce also drives direct employment through entrepreneurship, new employment forms, ecological employment, etc., and empowers upstream and downstream suppliers and partners through the industrial chain to drive indirect employment. The report uses Xianyu platform as an example to calculate the employment volume driven by idle second-hand e-commerce. The statistical results show that in 2023, the Xianyu platform has driven 4.07 million jobs in the whole society.

  Second-hand transactions are an important way to promote green transformation. The report believes that idle second-hand e-commerce platforms promote green development through three important channels. First, actively carry out carbon emission reduction practices to help green and low-carbon. Idle second-hand e-commerce platforms reduce resource waste and carbon emissions from the source by promoting the efficient circulation and reuse of idle resources; second, they actively carry out green initiatives to promote low-carbon emission reduction. For example, the "Green Partner" and other green charity activities initiated by the Xianyu platform call on and guide more public to actively participate in green life practice; third, through carbon emission reduction standards and carbon points accounts, digitalization is used to help dual carbon development. For example, Xianyu platform took the lead in launching the personal carbon score system in 2022, realizing the quantifiable, visualized and perceptible value of carbon reduction in idle transactions, providing a new quantitative path for the public to participate in the carbon reduction cause.

  In the view of Hou Yun, Secretary-General of the Internet + Resource Recycling Committee of the China Circular Economy Association, the second-hand economy itself is a very good circular economy practice. The most important manifestation of the contribution of circular economy to carbon reduction is that it saves resources and replaces the utilization of new resources. "From the perspective of circular economy, the resource utilization to the final material utilization is a waste of resources, and second-hand utilization is a very good destination." She believes that under the background of dual carbon, both domestic and foreign markets, it will promote the long-term development of the second-hand market.

  Speaking of the future development trends and practices of idle second-hand e-commerce, Li Yongjian, a researcher at the Institute of Finance and Economics Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and vice president of the Chinese Market Society, said that the development of idle second-hand e-commerce has shown trends such as digitalization, interest and communityization, online and offline collaboration, and diversification of services. Xianyu's experience in the construction of credit mechanisms and service guarantee systems provides practical reference for the development of idle second-hand e-commerce market. In the future, the platform and government departments should work together to promote the standardized and healthy development of the second-hand e-commerce industry.

[Editor in charge: Zhou Jingjie]