Born Again

Amazon launched its certified refurbished category in India last year. And already, it has become one of the rapidly growing segments for the e retailer. The refurbished mobile phones segment, in particular, is on a tear, claims Amazon India. "We sold as many certified refurbished products in the first three months of 2018 as we did in the first nine months post launch," says Vivek Somareddy, Director Seller Services, Amazon India. "There is a promising customer demand across categories including smartphones, laptops, headphones, watches, small appliances and Kindle e readers."

Amazon is not alone. ShopClues, eBay (now part of Flipkart) and Snapdeal have had dedicated refurbished categories for the past few years and the e tailers are seeing brisk business. Research firm Counterpoint estimates that the global market for refurbished smartphones alone grew 13 per cent year on year in 2017, reaching close to 140 million units, while the market for new smartphones grew only three per cent. Research firm Deloitte sees the Indian used smartphone market growing at a CAGR of about 32 per cent and reaching 46 million units in 2020, generating a revenue of $4 billion. Not only smart phones, but