Amazon today opened the Second Chance Store, giving festive shoppers the chance to buy quality returned products in-person, for the first time. Customers can shop more conscientiously while benefiting from up to 50% in savings compared to recommended retail prices.
What to expect at and where to find Amazon's Second Chance Store
The new retail store is located at the Brunswick Centre in Central London, and features deals on a wide range of returned products. Customers can shop for kitchen and household appliances, books, games and toys, electricals and more.
Amazon offers quality returned products year-round online at Amazon Second Chance, which also provides customers with information about product repair, recycling and trade-in for electronics.
Amazon has donated more than 4,000 products to be featured in the Second Chance Store, including quality used, open-box and refurbished donated products from Amazon. Over 300 donated refurbished Amazon Echo, Amazon Kindle and Ring Doorbell devices were among the donated items.
It also features a Repairs Zone where customers can participate in free repairs workshops onsite. Experts from GXO ServiceTech, one of Amazon’s leading repair partners in the UK and Europe, will teach customers how to fix broken laptops and household tech through live demonstrations.
The Second Chance Store by Amazon is operating in partnership with one of the UK’s leading children’s charities, Barnardo’s, with all proceeds supporting their work with children and young people.
Second Chance Store ambassador Kimberly Wyatt joined the opening today.
The store is open from today until 12 December.
Second-hand shopping is growing in the UK
Across the UK and Europe, customer demand has driven second-hand shopping on Amazon into a billion-pound business.
In the UK alone, Amazon gave a second chance to more than four million products last year, helping British customers save more than £100 million by buying used or refurbished products at a discount.
In the first nine months of 2023, Amazon’s sales of second-hand goods in the UK increased by more than 15% compared to the same period last year.
“Amazon is committed to giving more products a second chance – both through helping customers shop pre-loved, and through programmes to recycle, trade-in and repair products, contributing to a more circular economy,” said John Boumphrey, UK Country Manager, Amazon.
“The Second Chance Store that we’ve launched today with Barnardo’s is all about offering customers a great way to shop second-hand this festive season, while supporting a brilliant charity we have been working with for many years.”
Lynn Perry MBE, CEO of Barnardo’s, said: “We’re grateful to this partnership, which will assist us in supporting more families in crisis across the UK. More than 800,000 children are currently living in poverty in the UK, whilst millions of families are having to choose between essentials like food, clothing and heating their home this winter. The funds raised from the Second Chance Store will help us continue the vital work of supporting families and ensuring children have the best possible start in life.”
Amazon's efforts to promote a circular economy
So far this year, Amazon has facilitated the donation of more than 13 million products to more than 2,000 charities across the UK through its Retail and Fresh operations, and its Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) Donations, a programme which helps independent sellers using the Fulfilment by Amazon service donate their overstock or returned items automatically.
Charities including Barnardo’s, the British Heart Foundation, In Kind Direct, Scope and The Multibank initiative are amongst the donation recipients.
Product donations form one part of Amazon’s circular economy programme.
In 2022, Amazon expanded its partnership with WRAP and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to support a global circular economy for products.
The company is also supporting the development of a sorting technology to improve plastic packaging recycling through involvement in the Digital Watermarks Initiative HolyGrail 2.0, driven by AIM, European Brands Association and powered by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste.
The Amazon Second Chance Store is an expansion of Amazon’s existing relationship with Barnardo’s, where we have provided millions of donated products since 2019.
Amazon and Barnardo’s also launched a ground-breaking programme called the JOBS Project (Journey of Becoming Successful) which has supported 65 young people since 2021, with an ambition to help 500 people in the next five years, many of whom are care experienced, develop the skills needed to secure work and develop their careers. As a signatory of the Care Leavers Covenant, Amazon is one of leading employers of care leavers in the UK.
