“Little Santa Claus, when you come down from heaven, with already loved toys!” Instead of thousands of toys, more and more French consumers are asking Santa Claus to favor second-hand toys for ecological but also economic reasons. Explanations.
According to figures from panelist Circana, sales of second-hand games and toys amounted to €270 million in France in 2023, up 26% compared to the previous year. Second-hand goods therefore represent nearly 6% of the sector’s turnover.
Second-hand goods are available in specialized stores
Faced with the success of garage sales, toy markets and other second-hand platforms, specialized stores also intend to stay in the game. Kingtoy launched King Okaz, a take-back and resale service for second-hand toys, while JouéClub is banking on TrocOJoué, to sell and offer old toys a new family.
More than 300 million gifts are given at Christmas in France. According to Ademe, 81% of French people buy gifts at Christmas, including 77% who buy new products and 14% second-hand products.
The carbon footprint of Christmas gifts in France weighs heavily in the environmental impact of the end-of-year holidays: 57% of greenhouse gas emissions, or 3,575 kilotons of CO2, or 53 kg of CO2 per person. Toys come in the top 3 Christmas gifts, behind clothes and ahead of books. They represent 20% of total Christmas gifts.
Toys thrown in the trash by the millions
Toys in the trash, not by the thousands, but by the millions: “No less than 150,000 tonnes of toys (or around 450 million units) are put on the market each year, in France alone. If consumption is exploding, it is also because the French throw away a lot of the objects they buy for their children. As a result, each year, no less than 120,000 tonnes of waste are recorded in the sector, the equivalent of twelve Eiffel Towers,” indicates an Ademe study on the toy industry. Seven out of ten toys are also only used for barely eight months, this study specifies.
According to a Havas market study, the French have planned to spend 261 euros on their Christmas gifts, or 16 euros more than in 2023 when inflation flirted with 5%, including 137 euros for toys. Each child will be offered an average of four gifts by their parents and five others by other members of the family. The second-hand market today makes it possible to satisfy all children by offering them quality second-hand toys at a lower cost.
Already loved quality toys
The Rejouons Solidaire network, for example, collects hundreds of toys every week from donations from families, distributors, businesses and even associations. Real Santa Claus workshops where everyone tackles the multiple stages of revaluation. Toys find a new lease of life here. They are sorted, recomposed, renovated, cleaned with ecological and eco-labeled products. At the end of the journey, the toys are relabeled as a new toy.
Toys, board games, dolls, construction games, puzzles, scooters, balls are also collected from Emmaüs Defi, which will clean, repair or revamp them before offering them at solidarity prices. Broken or torn items will be recycled, thus reducing our environmental footprint. These solidarity initiatives are increasing in France. Something to fill every little shoe!
Have you already given or are you ready to give second-hand toys this Christmas? Tell us what you like about second hand? How did the children react? And the rest of the family? On the contrary, for you, it is unthinkable to offer second-hand toys to children at Christmas? What is holding you back? Fear of the children’s reaction? Family? Lack of time to look for that rare gem? The absence of recent products?
