Usability and User Experience on Secondhand Fashion Digital Platforms: A Comparative Study

Abstract

With the fashion industry's negative impact already widely acknowledged, we've seen new ways of consuming and investing in the circular economy system. After establishing the importance of new technologies in today's fashion consumption, the spotlight is now on the role of e-commerce in the advent of circularity. This article presents a comparative analysis on four second-hand fashion e-commerce websites available in Portugal, with the goal of understanding the importance of usability and user experience for e-business and identifying the best and worst interaction design practices. With implications for academia as well as the fashion and communication industries, this study demonstrates that the analyzed platforms do not have structural issues, becoming examples to be considered for their good performance – which may be the cause for increased interest in the circular economy – and exposing guidelines for future research.