,000 gifts in New Zealand will go straight in the bin after Christmas, and a further 4.32 million gifts in Australia will be used just once before being thrown away.  Charity retailer Salvos Stores aims to reduce the amount of waste around the holidays by encouraging more consumers to purchase secondhand gifts.  “We know that people are open to shopping secondhand at Christmas. It’s just about breaking the stigma around starting,” Aífe O’Loughlin, senior manager of circular economy at Salvos Stores, told Inside Retail.  She admitted that this is easier said than done, given that for some people secondhand is still perceived as second best.  “We naturally gravitate to new products, and we feel like people might think less of a gift if it’s been sourced secondhand,” she said.  “But in my experience, a secondhand gift is often more thoughtful than something new because you’ve had to work a little harder to find the product that makes sense for the person that you’re buying it for.”  Breaking the stigma around secondhand gifts To help break the stigma around secondhand Christmas gifts, Salvos has launched its ‘Preloved Promise’ campaign for the second year in a row.  Last year, the campaign asked customers to make a pledge to be open to giving and receiving secondhand Christmas gifts. This year, Salvos has taken it a step further.  “We said, let’s just go out there and say, ‘buy secondhand’,” O’Laughlin said. “Because if we’re not playing a role in opening up that line of discussion, it might never happen.” Appearing online and in-store, the campaign features simple illustrations that call to mind the environmental benefits of secondhand shopping.  “We’ve brought together these elements in [a way] that highlights Christmas within the store but is conscious about the environment and how it’s printed and what it looks like,” she said.  As part of the campaign, Salvos is also making it easier for customers to find preloved gifts for everyone on their list. “A lot of our stores pull together gift packs for customers ranging from $5 to $25,” O’Loughlin explained.  “Our in-store teams also pull together gift ideas and create displays of items they’ve found while sorting through donations that they think would make really great Christmas gifts.” Customers can also search for Christmas gifts on Salvos’ e-commerce site.  “A couple of years ago, time was definitely a barrier to shopping secondhand because you had to physically go into our stores. But as we’ve grown and evolved, we’ve changed how we operate, and now we have an online store,” she said.  “There are even great kids’ gift packs with brand-new Bluey dolls and books.” Shoppers want to spend less on gifts this year Salvos’ Christmas campaign comes at a time of growing interest in the secondhand market.  According to a 2022 report by US online marketplace ThredUp, the secondhand apparel market is expected to grow three times faster than the global apparel market overall.  The main reason consumers choose to buy secondhand is to save money, followed by sustainability, according to the report. This aligns with The Body Shop survey, which found that 81 per cent of Aussies and 82 per cent of Kiwis want to spend less at Christmas this year, primarily due to cost-of-living increases. Buying fewer gifts is the most popular way Aussies (61 per cent) and Kiwis (59 per cent) are planning to save money, but they are still prioritising meaningful gifting.  Around half (45 per cent) of Aussies and Kiwis (52 per cent) say the last few years have made them realise quality time and thoughtful gestures or gifts are more important than spending a lot of money.  And gift receivers agree: over two thirds (69 per cent) of Aussies and 76 per cent of Kiwis say they care more about the thought behind a gift than the price. So, could this be the year that secondhand gifting becomes socially acceptable?  “I’m not suggesting that people are going to start buying everything secondhand at Christmas, but it’s looking for opportunities where it makes sense,” O’Laughlin said.  “If you’re doing a Kris Kringle with your friends or family, you can make a promise to buy secondhand gifts, and it’s an activity you can all do together, so it’s really quite impactful and meaningful.”