To sell or not to sell : An exploratory study about the motivational drivers and barriers of reselling personal luxury goods

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the consumer resale behaviour of Millennial consumers in the context of personal luxury goods in order to identify the motivational drivers and barriers of reselling. Prior discussions about resale behaviour have focused on disposition behaviour, the relation of resale behaviour and purchasing, as well as meanings associated with reselling personal luxury goods. Yet, only few studies have approached consumer resale behaviour from the perspective of possessing, thus neglecting the significance of resale barriers. Consequently, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of resale behaviour motivations by exploring the phenomenon from the view of the whole consumption cycle, consisting of purchasing, possessing and disposing. Design/methodology/approach – This research employed a qualitative, exploratory approach, including thematic analysis using empirical data from semi-structured interviews with ten European Millennials. Consumer resale behaviour was examined in the context of personal luxury goods. Findings – Results indicate that personal luxury goods are reluctantly disposed, but chiefly resold when given away. The motivations to resell or not to resell personal luxury items are exhibiting three types of reasoning: utilitarian, hedonic and social motivations. Based on the categorisation of resale drivers and barriers, the authors propose a conceptual model to show the individual motivations. Highly notable is the phase of possession, which has a strong influence on the decision of whether to engage in reselling or not. Originality/value – The paper discusses the relevance of each phase of the consumption cycle when studying consumer resale behaviour motivations. More, it challenges the ‘end of ownership’ approach and suggests luxury brands to consider the weight of possessing if applying such business models.