Sharing is saving up to €613 a year

French consumers are taking up so-called ‘collaborative consumption’ ideas such as buying second-hand goods online, renting a room via AirBnB or covoitureage (car-pooling), and saving €613 a year on average.

The rise is being driven by adults aged between 25 and 34, who sell and buy items on re-sale sites like le boncoin, or using group purchasing power.

Older professionals are catching on to the idea, according to a study by consumer credit company Cofidis, saving themselves an average of €686 a year. A total of 87% of those polled said they had bought second-hand items in the past year, while 71% – 8% more than in the previous year – have made money by selling on items that they no longer want, either online or at a vide-grenier.