“If you don’t wear it, give it away”. The Emmaüs association hijacks the slogan of Vinted, “You don’t wear it anymore? Sell it ». Faced with a decline in the quality of the donations made to it, the organisation, which comes to the aid of 70,000 people in France, is launching an campaign to encourage citizens to empty their cupboards, by first proof of generosity.
“The market has turned around for a few years”, regrets Valérie Fayard, deputy director general of the Emmaüs association. The French have discovered online sites selling second-hand goods, including Vinted and Leboncoin, to get rid of items they no longer use and profit from them. Now, thanks to its campaigns, Vinted has 23 million followers in France, its largest market in the world. Leboncoin, a subsidiary of the Norwegian group Adevinta, listed in Oslo, claims 29 million monthly users.
By force, these players in the online sale of second-hand products overshadow the Emmaüs association, whose 500 sales rooms of donated objects provide it with 300 million euros in revenue. “The quality of products is deteriorating”, laments the Deputy Chief Executive Officer. Now, only 40% of the 320,000 tonnes of items donated each year (furniture, crockery, clothing and other household appliances) are suitable for sale, ” once morest 60% previously”we loveme Fayard. This is particularly the case in the clothing departments, the first category of products sold at Emmaüs, ahead of furniture. “In France, all resource centers are faced with this problem”she assures.
Create “an electroshock”
Today, the French first seek to sell these objects. And for lack of having found buyers, online in particular, they “clear at Emmaus”observe Mme Fayard. Therefore, the volunteers and companions of the association must “mix and sort more volumes” to achieve a similar turnover. With this campaign designed by Havas Paris and the Agence Verte – and broadcast on television and on billboards, in media spaces which have been granted to it free of charge – the association hopes to create “electroshock” et “to raise awareness of the impact of this behavior supposed to be part of a circular economy”.
“Yes, we can do other than sell on these platforms”, judge Valérie Fayard, social and solidarity economy activist. To “create the buzz”, the association publishes false advertisements on Vinted and Leboncoin, hoping to reach the followers of these online thrift stores. The campaign will also be relayed on social networks, in particular through influencer accounts, in order to reach a young audience.
Indeed, deplores the Deputy Director General of Emmaüs, the association created by Abbé Pierre in 1949 to fight once morest exclusion and poverty suffers from a lack of notoriety among the younger generations. Precisely those who were the first to convert to the online purchase and sale of second-hand products and convinced their parents of the financial virtues of this circuit.
