C2C e-commerce: Could a new business model sell more old goods?

Countless headlines have marked the meteoric rise of e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the disease took hold, digital adoption in Europe jumped nearly 14 percent—a rise that would have taken two to three years in most industries at prepandemic growth rates. And it is still growing fast. We estimate e-commerce will rise between 2020 and 2024 by at least 8 to 9 percent a year in France and Germany, 6 to 7 percent a year in the United Kingdom, 10 to 12 percent a year in Italy and Spain, and more than 20 percent a year in Asia.

B2C marketplaces have fared particularly well. Many retailers with a foot in the physical world struggled when sales suddenly pivoted to their online channels during crisis-related lockdowns, often finding themselves short on stock, slow to deliver, and overwhelmed by the volume of calls and online queries. In contrast, Amazon and other seasoned…

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