The secondhand market is projected to double in the next five years with the industry reaching over $7 billion in valuation! As more and more consumers are spending their time in thrift stores, it is important to break through the thrifting crowd with the right thrift store marketing ideas. 

All thrift stores should be implementing social media marketing into their budget! 

Ecommerce website

Any thrift store that plans to expand its operations online should implement an online marketing strategy through their ecommerce website which holds their store. An ecommerce website allows a thrift store to expand its operations on a global scale. This means selling more products than ever before. 

This website should be clean, load quickly, be easy to navigate through the purchasing process, and provide other needed information such as blogs or locations. 

A great analogy can be made when it comes to an ecommerce website. Think of your website as a physical store, which you might have! If the store is disorganized, the staff is slow or rude, and it is difficult to navigate, consumers are more likely to leave. 

On the other hand, if the store is organized, the staff is timely and pleasant, and it is easy to move from aisle to aisle, consumers are more likely to purchase products.

What are some websites that provide this experience? thredUp is a great example of a second-hand store that has a great ecommerce experience.  

The sales are clear to see, the categories are neat and spaced properly and provide simple navigation, it follows UX design principles and overall loads quickly! 

Once this is in place, it is time to implement some thrift store marketing ideas. 

Build a thrifty community 

Gen Z and Millennials search for brands that create a strong bond and community with their target audience. It is all about being personal and transparent about the company brand. While Millennials were the generation to change several different types of traditions, their younger cousins, Gen Z continues these changes with social media marketing. 

Gen Z states that they interact with brands on social media more versus heading to the storefront first, and statistics have shown that 78 percent of Gen Z use social media to learn more about brands! 

From the first sale to the ongoing customer care, Gen Z is the top generation to purchase products from social commerce with Millennials following not too far behind them. 

While you are selling online products to make sales, remember that each generation expects a different experience from each brand that they engage with. 

Pay-per-click advertising 

From here, a great strategy that social media marketing Denver companies can implement into the thrift store marketing ideas is advertising on social media and search engines. 

Where are some of the best places to market? Gen Z’s preferred platforms are YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok! While Millennials prefer Facebook over other platforms. Millennials love Facebook so much that they are one of the top demographics on Facebook. 90 percent of this generation is on the social platform. 

This means that marketing to each different generation will need a bit of a different approach. Gen Z is more reachable on Instagram, so when it comes to those marketing efforts, a great idea is to use stories and influencers! 

On the other hand, for Millennials, it is likely best to market on Facebook and implement User Generated Content into advertising. Millennials are more skeptical about purchasing products and services online and trust the reviews of other users over companies. 

Social media shop 

Facebook provides companies with the ability to market their products and services right on the social media platform, and with Facebook owning Instagram, this provides companies with the ability to market on two platforms. Facebook calls their store Facebook shops! Instagram is known as Instagram Ecommerce! 

This allows thrift stores to tag their items on social media posts, sell directly through the app, and manage all their products right in a single place called “Commerce Manager.” 

The benefits of this are to reach more thrifters and create brand awareness and credibility with Facebook and Instagram themselves. 

Those who are new to the commerce game will need to have their profile for a select period of time, so if you are a brand new store with a new social presence on Facebook or Instagram, you will not be able to immediately start the ecommerce side of marketing. 

However, this means you can create brand awareness campaigns that start to build the thrifty community who will purchase your products! 

The benefits of social media marketing for thrift stores continue to rise as more consumers are spending more time on social platforms while purchasing products from their favorite brands! 

For help with starting your own online ecommerce store for your thrifty community, contact us today!