Used smartphones are increasingly popular: Back Market in the upswing

The online marketplaces of Back Market and Refurbed look forward to increasing sales figures, while end users are increasingly interested in used electrical devices. This is particularly the case in Germany.

The French provider Back Market reports an exceptionally strong first half of 2025 for Germany: the gross -like volume (Gross Market Value or GMV) – which indicates the total value of all goods sold across the platform – rose by 56 percent in this country in the second quarter, in the first half of the year by 35 percent. Germany is one of the fastest growing markets worldwide – together with the USA and the United Kingdom. The value should not be confused with the actual sales, but shows that significantly more was bought and sold over the platform. For 2025, Back Market forecast a GMV of three billion euros and speaks of a record year.

End consumers under pressure

While the trend towards second-hand electronics has been going on for years, Back Market suspects a certain cause behind the recent climbing of his numbers-namely that many households are under financially pressure. Be it due to rising prices, geopolitical uncertainty and the unclear outcome of current trade conflicts.

Competitors Refurbed from Austria recently also had a very positive development. The company, founded in 2017, was profitable for the first time in June on all eleven state markets. Refurbed is active in Germany, Austria, Sweden and nine other countries. The company in Germany made more than 50 percent of its previous total outlaw.

Used smartphones most popular

Above all, the used smartphones are more popular with consumers and can be read from the available figures. In 2023 it was still 19 percent that were with one Representative telephone survey of the consumer center Information on having already bought a used electrical device. Two thirds of them stated that they had already bought a second-hand smartphone, which was the most popular product. Around two years later the Bitkom Economic Association wanted to know in a representative online surveyhow many people have already bought a used smartphone. This answered 18 percent of the respondents with yes. Around 1,000 people were interviewed in both surveys. Based on this, the proportion of owners of a used smartphone may have increased by about a third in almost two years.

The trend is also globally recognizable. The US market research company International Data Corporation is expecting itthat the number of delivered second-hand smartphones will increase by 8.8 percent annually by 2027. Based on around 282.6 million devices in 2022, it would be around 431.1 million smartphones in 2027 that will start a second life.