ABSTRACT: Second-hand clothes (SHC) seem no longer on new terms with all of the

people. Throughout nearly two decades, the rapid growth of second-hand products
expenditure has caught the attention of researchers and raised the question of why customers
buy second-hand products. Besides, the digital era introduced more and more new electronic
devices to provide users with purchasing and selling over the Internet and mobile devices.
As a result, the use of social media and smartphones has revolutionized the second-hand
product market among the young and teenagers. Also, this trend has a huge impact on the
economy as a whole, particularly the clothes market. Understanding this circumstance, our
topic “Factors affecting young customers’ decision to buy secondhand clothes in Ho Chi
Minh City” was deployed to see factors that influence the decision of purchasing. The
phrase “young customers” is  defined by Schewe and Meredith (2004) approximately 17–23
years of age. During their years in higher education, students will develop many of their
opinions and preferences which they will keep throughout their lives (Jenkinson 2000). The
youth market is described in the literature as ‘the consumer of the future’ (Goldenberg
2005), ‘agents of change’ (Spero, Stone 2004) and as ‘trend setting loyals’ (Bakewell,
Mitchell 2003).
Our research aims to create new knowledge in the market of consuming second-hand
clothes and customer buying behaviors by identifying factors affecting those behaviors. 
Model
Method
Recommendation
The study uses the data taken from 200 university students in Ho Chi Minh City by online
questionnaire forms. 
The extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is used to examine the consumer’s
intention to buy the used clothes and visit secondhand clothing stores. After conducting the
survey and applying the research model, our group used the processing operations to obtain
the results.
The research result 
This study contributes to the existing literature on second-hand products consumption and
customer buying behavior as well as mentioning theories of the brand, price, risk, and seller
location. 

CHAPTER 1. TOPIC RESEARCH OVERVIEW

1. Reasons for choosing the topic:

Secondhand clothes (SHC) has a long history that can be traced back to mid-1300
1
Europe (Seidel, 1991) when Europe was suffering from the economic depression. Therefore,
it led to many problems happening at the time including increasing populations, severe
famine, political and social rebellions and mass starvation (Smitha, 2015). Facing these
miserable issues and hard living situation, SHC then had become a crucial alternative to
solve consumers’ clothing needs (Lemire, 2006; Barahona & Sanchez, 2012). Nowadays,
however, SHC are no longer considered as a low level fashion, but gradually moving to a
global fashion trend and receiving the interest from customers on over the world regardless
of socio-economic backgrounds
(Hansen, 2000), and classes (Milgram, 2012).
Vietnam - a country in Asia is also not an exception, forming the SHC consumption trends
starting from early times with old clothes packages supported by Swedish International
Development Cooperation Organization (SIDA) in 1980 - 1990. At the time, SHC or “Sida”
was the good choice for this deteriorating economy and clothing shortage. However, after
30 years, Vietnam now enjoys political stability together with a growing economy, in which
Vietnam's textile and garment industry is one of the spearhead industries of Vietnam.
Moreover, the fashion industry is having remarkable strides. All of those indicate that there
are no more needs to continue using SHC; nevertheless, reality has proven the opposite - the
consumer still buys and uses these products. 
In the context of Vietnam with specific characteristics of economy, politics, culture and
society, consumers, especially young Vietnamese consumers, are considered as the target
market of this product (Hansen, 2004). The fact shows that the fashion of the past decades is
an important milestone in the modern world fashion industry, and therefore it has a strong
influence and certain sustainability. Consumers in general and the young generation
(especially Generation Z) in particular are increasingly proving themselves with their
variety of styles, personality and unique taste in clothes – and secondhand goods can
completely satisfy their needs. Nowadays, we can see individuals who enjoy buying second-
hand clothes (both beautiful and cheap) and transforming it into a more modern version,
more true to their personality. Although these stories are not too strange, the idea of
recycling and extending the life of clothes is increasingly popular. According to thredUP's
annual resale report, the secondhand market is predicted to grow to almost 1.5 times its
normal size over the next decade. It also estimates that by 2028, an average of 13% of the
clothes in a closet will likely be second-hand. 
Today, this item also becomes an effective source of income for many large and small stores
in big cities especially in Ho Chi Minh City. With the high demand for SHC mainly coming
from the young customers, the research is made to create new knowledge in the area of
second-hand products consumption and customer buying behavior by identifying factors
that influence the customer in buying second-hand products. The paper will help
businessmen to understand their customers, complement and gradually hoot the overall
picture of the reason or consumer motivation in the world. Besides, the study also identified
the most dominant factors affecting the intention to buy secondhand clothes of young people

2
in Ho Chi Minh City; so stores in Ho Chi Minh City can use this paper as a useful resource.
Despite the amount of research, scho-lars argue that the number of studies on SHC are still
both limited (Na’amneh & Al Huban, 2012) and spo-radic (Walter, 2008), and the findings
are mixed and lack agreement (Felix, Asuamah & Darkwa, 2013). Therefore, the study of
young customers’ motivation to buy second hand clothes in Ho Chi Minh City is a notable
topic and is receiving more and more attention from businesses in the area.
References: 
Lemire, B. (2006), ‗The secondhand clothing trade in Europe and beyond: Stages 
of development and enterprise in a changing material world, c1600– 1850‘, Textile, 
10(2), 144–163
Hansen, K.T. (2000), ‗Other people‘s clothes? The international second-hand 
clothing trade and dress practices in Zambia‘, Fashion Theory, 4(3), 245–274.

2. Target, object, research scope

2.1. Object: 
Young customers and their motivation to buy second hand clothes in Ho Chi Minh City. 
2.2. Research scope:
Spatial Range: The study is conducted in Ho Chi Minh city, Viet Nam
Time Range: The data collected mainly focus from abc to xyz 2021.
Content scope: In this study, our group is mainly fond of factors affecting young customers’
motivation to buy second hand clothes in Ho Chi Minh City. 
2.3. Method of analyzing and researching the topic: 
2.4. Objectives of the study: 
After many months of isolation due to the complication of the Coronavirus situation,
plenty of households have financial difficulties.   
 Identify and measure the factors and the extent of influence of those factors on the
attendants’ motivation to buy second-hand clothes in HCM city. 
 Understanding and analyzing the young customer’s buying clothes trend after the period
of social isolation.
 Help second-hand businesses by supplying a useful source of knowledge in this field
including market segmentation, specific plans,...    
 Give  a  better  insight about the secondhand customer’s behavior, which will help thw
marketer in  creating  abetter strategy for keeping and increasing popularity in the
consumption of secondhand products. 
CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL BASIS

2.2. THEORETICAL BASIS

3
Buying and selling second-hand goods is something that has been done for centuries
(Damme & Vermoesen, 2009, p.276-277). Second-hand products can be defined as the
reuse of an old product while maintaining its original functionality (WRAP, 2013, p. 7).
Therefore, secondhand clothes are considered as the clothes which were used before by
someone; notwithstanding, they are in a condition that is appropriate (about the material,
shape, etc) for using. A second-hand buying is understood as a purchase of something that is
not new and that was previously in possession by another person (Oxford, 2019), usually
sold in places different from those where new products are offered. However, they are still
available for being utilized. Building on their definition of secondhand buying as “the
acquisition of used objects through often specific modes and places of exchange”. (Roux &
Guiot, 2008, p. 66). 
The secondhand market has witnessed decline as well as growth over different periods of
time. It can be seen that the secondhand market emerged strongly during the 18th and 19th
centuries but when it came to the 20th century, there was a downfall in the consumption of
secondhand products. In the 2000s, the secondhand market again regained popularity
(Weinstein, 2014), and as we can see now, secondhand products are growing dramatically
and attracting more attention in 21th century, especially among the Y and Z generation. 
Why  do the customers purchase second hand clothes instead of the new ones? The answer
is due to economic and ecological reasons. It seems that now the customer is more
interested in second-hand products than the new products (Guiot & Roux, 2010, p.356). The
resale market is a worthy alternative and a competitive threat to the new consumer goods
one not only for economic consumer reasons but also on social and ethical ones. Gradually,
with increased ecological awareness, thrift shops transformed into destinations for
purchasing second-hand clothes as a sustainable alternative (Park et al., 2020), so much so
that the value of the second-hand clothing market is expected to more than double from $24
billion in 2018 to $64 billion in 2028, which is one and a half times the projected size of the
fast fashion industry in 2028 (thredUP, 2019). 
2.2.1. Customer purchase decision:
A customer is a person or organization who buys products for his own use or other people's
consumption (Solomon et al., 2013, p.6-7). Customer behavior means the activities when
the customers choose, obtain, utilize and after that expose the products. There are a lot of
stages that the customers go through to go to the final conclusion when he decides to
purchase a product including problem recognition (the customer recognizes or feels that he
is missing something); next stage is information search (the customer uses many tools to
look for the information about the product he wants to get); moving on the evaluation (the
customer evaluates the alternatives); then coming to the purchase (customer purchases the
product after considering all factors); finally is feedback (the customer rates the post-
purchase situation) (Solomon, 2009, p.350). There are four main factors that are usually
mentioned when a customer makes a purchase decision which are brand, price, risk and
location. All of these four factors have a close relationship to each other; that is the reason

4
why the businesses must have a clear plan on the price of products, try to improve the brand
image, reduce the risk and build a good strategy on the location to enhance the customer
experience, and satisfy customer requirements. Hence, they can create appropriate values to
the customers to drive their businesses to flourish. 

 REFERENCE:
Damme, I. V., Vermoesen, R. (2009). Second-hand consumption as a way of life: public
auctions in the surroundings of Alost in the late eighteenth century. Continuity and Change,
Vol.24 (2), 275-305.
Roux, D., & Guiot, D. (2008). Measuring Second-Hand Shopping Motives, Antecedents and
Consequences. Recherche et Applications En Marketing (English Edition), 23(4), 63–91.
Weinstein, J. F. (2014). Reframe, Reuse, Re-Style: Deconstructing the Sustainable Second-
Hand Consumer.
Guiot, D., & Roux, D. (2010). A Second-hand Shoppers’ Motivation Scale: Antecedents,
Consequences, and Implications for Retailers. Journal of Retailing, 86(4), 355–371.
Hyejune Park, Theresa Anna Kwon, Md Mostafa Zaman & So Young Song(2020) Thrift
shopping for clothes: To treat self or others?, Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 11:1,
56-70.
Thredup (2019). Thredup 2019 resale report. Thredup. Retrieved from
https://www.thredup.com/resale
Solomon, M., R., Bamossy, G., Askegaard, S., & Hogg, M., K., (2013). Consumer
Behavior: A European Perspective. 5th edition. Pearson Education Limited. Harlow,
England.
Solomon, Michael R, (2009). Consumer Behavior. 8th edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper
Saddle River, N.J.

2.3. PROPOSED MODEL 

Conceptual models are abstract, psychological representations of how tasks should be
carried out. People use conceptual models subconsciously and intuitively as a way of
systematizing processes. A conceptual model is a mental model that people carry of how
something should be done.  Dr. Susan Wenschenk reflects on mental and conceptual models
here - https://uxmag.com/articles/the-secret-to-designing-an-intuitive-user-experience
According to Solomon (2009, p.350), when a customer decides to buy a product, he goes
through different stages of the process such as problem recognition (where the customer
feels that he is missing something), information search (finding more information about the
product), evaluation (customer evaluates alternatives), purchase (customer buys the product
considering all the factors) and feedback (customer evaluates the post-purchase decision). 
The previous study shows that the customer's buying behavior is influenced by two
important factors: individual factors (e.g. demographics, customer’s perception, knowledge,
inspiration, learning, personality, attitude, thoughts, and lifestyles) and environmental

5
factors (e.g. culture, the reference group, social class, family and household) (Sata, 2013,
p.104). Additionally, there are some other factors (e.g. price, brand, price, risk, and
location) that a customer considers while buying a product. Comparatively, those
consideration factors are also different, based on the product category and customer
personality. For example, when customers choose the automobile brand, they consider
quality and price as the most important factors (Jean, 2004, p.22). Therefore, customers
possess some factors such as price, brand, price, risk, location, and others which make this
job easier for the customer when choosing their product. Even all of the above factors
(brand, price, risk, and location) have a close relationship with each other. For example, a
product's brand image has an influence risk (Huang et al., 2004, p.41); price also has an
influence on brand (Jacoby et al., 1971, p.570-571), and perceived risk has a strong
relationship with the marketplace (Huang et al., 2004, p.42-43).  
A conceptual model sets out the collective knowledge, experience, and perspectives on the
system of interest. The model illustrates your assumptions about how the system functions
and what you believe to be the important or dominant processes and their linkages. This
includes the factors that are perceived to be driving the changes in the system and the
consequences of changes in these factors. A conceptual framework has been developed to
enhance understanding of secondhand clothing buying intention. Product price is also an
important factor. Additionally, the brand of stores where buying secondhand clothes and
their locations are also noticeable. Available risk is another crucial parameter considered
before deciding to buy that kind of clothes, so it can not be ignored. Therefore, through
these theoretical backgrounds for each factor, people can clearly obtain an idea of how the
research questions of the thesis are answered. Based on the existing model used in the study
which refers to the secondhand market which is described as Figure 2.1, we decided the
model used for this study is described as Figure 2.2.
 

Figure 2.1: Conceptual framework: negative and positive transfer between used clothing
and consumer self concept 
Am I What I Wear? An Exploratory Study of Symbolic Meanings Associated with
Secondhand Clothing - Scientific Figure on ResearchGate. Available from:

6
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/CONCEPTUAL-FRAMEWORK-NEGATIVE-AND-
POSITIVE-TRANFERS-BETWEEN-USED-CLOTHING-AND-
CONSUMER_fig1_259474955 [accessed 14 Oct, 2021]

Figure 2.2: The conceptual model for consumer purchase decision of secondhand clothes. 
Citation: Bashir R, Lodhi RN, Atif M (2016) Factor Influencing the Purchase Intention of
Consumer While Purchasing Second-Hand Products in Pakistan. Arabian J Bus Manag
Review S3: 008. doi: 10.4172/2223-5833.S3-008

L1:
2
16
58
64
61

7
L2:
3
9
48
61
80

L3:
1
1
30
61
108

The variable “Price is the most important consideration”

Evaluation of the degree Frequency
1 2
2 16
3 58
4 64
5 61

Based on the data in the table, we have:

Sample size: n = 201

Sample mean: x́ =
∑ xi =¿ 3.83
n
( x i − x́)2
Variance: s² = ∑ =¿0.9697
n −1
Standard Deviation: s = √ s ² = 0.9847
α
At 95% confidence, α = 0.05, and = 0.025
2
t.025= 1.9719 is based on n - 1 = 201- 1 = 200 degrees of freedom

Interval estimate:
s
x́ ± t ∝/2
√n
3.83±0.14
So the point estimate of the overall mean is 3.83. The margin of error is 0.14 and the 95%
confidence interval is 3.83 - 0.14 =3.69 to 3.83+ 0.14 = 3.97
Conclusion:

The variable “Purchasing because of lower price than the new ones”
Evaluation of the degree Frequency
1 3

8
2 9
3 48
4 61
5 80

Based on the data in the table, we have:

Sample size: n = 201

Sample mean: x́ =
∑ xi =¿ 4.02
n
( x i − x́)2
Variance: s² = ∑ =¿0.9496
n −1
Standard Deviation: s = √ s ² =0.9745
α
At 95% confidence, α = 0.05, and = 0.025
2
t.025= 1.9719 is based on n - 1 = 201- 1 = 200 degrees of freedom

Interval estimate:
s
x́ ± t ∝/2
√n
4.02±0.14
So the point estimate of the overall mean is 4.02. The margin of error is 0.14 and the 95%
confidence interval is 4.02 - 0.14 = 3.88 to 4.02 + 0.14 = 4.16

Bạn muốn một mức giá phù hợp với tình trạng hiện tại của sản phẩm?
The variable “The price is suitable for the status of the clothes.”
Evaluation of the degree Frequency
1 1
2 1
3 30
4 61
5 108
Based on the data in the table, we have:
Sample size: n = 201

Sample mean: x́ =
∑ xi =¿ 4.36
n
∑ ( x i − x́)2
Variance: s² = =¿0.6193
n −1
Standard Deviation: s = √ s ² =0.7870

9
 α
At 95% confidence, α = 0.05, and = 0.025
2
t.025= 1.9719 is based on n - 1 = 201- 1 = 200 degrees of freedom
Interval estimate:
s
x́ ± t ∝/2
√n
4.36 ±0.11
So the point estimate of the overall mean is 4.3681. The margin of error is 0.1467 and the
95% confidence interval is 4.36 - 0.11=4.25 to 4.36 + 0.11 =4.47

Tôi bằng lòng trả giá cao hơn cho một bộ quần áo secondhand nếu nó thuộc về thương hiệu
nổi tiếng.
The variable “People are willing to pay a higher price for secondhand clothes from famous brands.”
Evaluation of the degree Frequency
1 7
2 24
3 48
4 67
5 55
Based on the data in the table, we have:
Sample size: n = 201

Sample mean: x́ =
∑ xi =¿ 3.6915
n
( x i − x́)2
Variance: s² = ∑ =¿1.2144
n −1
Standard Deviation: s = √ s ² =1.1020
α
At 95% confidence, α = 0.05, and = 0.025
2
t.025= 1.9719 is based on n - 1 = 201- 1 = 200 degrees of freedom
Interval estimate:
s
x́ ± t ∝/2
√n
3.6915 ±0.1533
So the point estimate of the overall mean is 3.6915. The margin of error is 0.1533 and the
95% confidence interval is 3.6915 -0.1533 = 3.5383 to 3.6915+0.1533 =3.8448

Tôi sẵn sàng đi một quãng đường xa để mua đồ secondhand

The variable “People are willing to buy secondhand clothes from far-distanced stores.”
Evaluation of the degree Frequency

10
1 20
2 42
3 67
4 40
5 32
Based on the data in the table, we have:
Sample size: n = 201

Sample mean: x́ =
∑ xi =¿ 3.11
n

∑ ( x i − x́)2
Variance: s² = =¿1.4380
n −1
Standard Deviation: s = √ s ² =1.1991
α
At 95% confidence, α = 0.05, and = 0.025
2
t.025= 1.9719 is based on n - 1 = 201- 1 = 200 degrees of freedom
Interval estimate:
s
x́ ± t ∝/2
√n
3.11 ±0.1668
So the point estimate of the overall mean is 3.11. The margin of error is 0.1668 and the
95% confidence interval is 3.11 -0.1668 = 2.9432 to 3.11 +0.1668 =3.2768

 Table 4.2: Descriptive statistics of age

Age Frequenc Relative frequency Percent Cumulative percent frequency

y frequency

<20 125 0.622 62.2 62.2

20-40 56 0.278 27.8 90

>40 20 0.100 10 100.00

Sum 201 1.00 100.00  

According to the survey results, the majority of participants are under the age of 20, accounting for
62.2% (125 customers). The age group from 20 to 40 years old makes up 27.8% (56 customers).

11
The rest is 10% of participants who are over 40 years old customers which are also 20 customers.
Those results show teenagers under 20 are more interested in secondhand clothes compared to other
age groups. By contrast, participants who fall into more than 40 may not prefer this kind of clothes.
Therefore, this study’s findings reflect purchasing secondhand clthes has a huge impact on the
youngest age group.

3.3.3. Building survey questionnaires, expressing and coding the scale.

The survey divided into 3 parts: (1) demographic questions, (2) screening question, (3) main
questions with 12 observed variables.
Firstly, demographic questions which covered gender, age, as well as income for descriptive
purposes, are considered as moderating variables. Secondly, screening question is used to
determine the target group from taking the survey. Specifically, for researching the
behaviors of buying secondhand clothes, this question will help qualify respondents who
bought secondhand clothes. Finally, for 12 main questions, the Likert-type scale (1932), a
five-point scale, was used in our survey to identify the degree of factors that influence
participants. This scale is also widely used in other reports, so it is reliable to measure
attitudes directly. For a particular statement, participants easily express how much they
agree or disagree with 1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Agree, 5 =
Strongly Agree. (https://www.simplypsychology.org/likert-scale.html)
The survey includes 4 independent variables and each of them has 3 observed variables. The
independent variables are (1) Price, (2) Risk, (3) Brand, (4) Location. For each independent
variable, there are three observed variables with encoding symbol such as P1, P2,… as
below.

Table 3.1. Expressing and encoding scale

Original observed variable The observed variable has been Encoding
translated into English symbol
PRICE
Khi mua đồ secondhand, giá cả thứ Price is the most important thing when P1
là bạn quan tâm nhất. buying secondhand clothes.

12
Bạn thích mua đồ secondhand tại vì You like buying secondhand clothes P2
giá thấp hơn so với đồ mới. because their price is lower than the
new ones.
Bạn muốn một mức giá phù hợp với You want the price that is appropriate P3
tình trạng hiện tại của sản phẩm. to the current status of clothes.
RISK
Tôi quan tâm đến chất lượng/ độ bền I am concern to the ability of R1
của đồ secondhand secondhand clothes.
Sẽ không an toàn khi mua đồ It will be unsafe when purchasing if R2
secondhand mà không có sự đảm there is no assurance of sellers.
bảo từ cửa hàng.
Tôi sẽ dễ dàng trả hàng sau khi mua I will easily return secondhand clothes R3
sản phẩm không đúng chất lượng. when they are low-quality or different
from the assurance.
BRAND
Tôi bằng lòng trả giá cao hơn cho I am willing to pay higher for B1
một bộ quần áo secondhand nếu nó secondhand clothes from famous
thuộc về thương hiệu nổi tiếng. brands.
Miễn rằng đó là sản phẩm của Provided that they are secondhand B2
thương hiệu nổi tiếng, quần áo clothes from famous brands, how old
secondhand có cũ như thế nào cũng it is will be fine.
không phải là vấn đề.
Tôi yêu thích mua đồ secondhand I prefer secondhand clothes from B3
của hãng có tiếng hơn. famous brands to others.
LOCATION
Địa điểm của cửa hàng có tác động The location of secondhand clothes L1
lớn đến quyết định mua hàng của tôi. stores considerably influence my
decision of purchasing.
Tôi sẵn sàng đi một quãng đường xa I am willing to go a long distance in L2
để mua đồ secondhand. order to buy secondhand clothes.
Tôi cảm thấy thích thú với việc mua I am interested in buying secondhand L3
đồ secondhand tại chợ với nhiều clothes in the market or stalls rather
quầy hàng hơn là mua tại một cửa than in specific stores.
hàng secondhand độc lập.

3.4. Validity and Reliability

To answer the research question, a quantitative research method has been chosen. Generally,
quantitative research includes two criteria for measuring the quality of the research:

13
reliability and validity (Bryman & Bell, 2011, p. 157). The reliability and validity maintain
the precision
with which things are measured in a study (Hopkins, 2001). According to Agresti & Finlay
(2009, p. 11) a measure should have both validity and reliability for maintaing the quality of
a study.

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