Just a few years ago, the world of e-commerce deliveries was relatively straightforward: an online store, a warehouse, a courier and a customer. Today, that model is changing, with more and more transactions taking place directly between individuals. We can see this trend in SmartPosti's parcel volumes as well: between January and August 2026, the number of parcels sent through Vinted in our network increased by 316%. Someone finds a jacket, a pair of children's shoes or sports equipment they no longer need, but the next owner might be in another Latvian city, Lithuania, Poland or somewhere even further across Europe.
Buying and selling second-hand or unwanted items online has evolved from a relatively small-scale activity into an important part of e-commerce. And the second-hand market is no longer just about clothing. People are buying and selling electronics, children's products, furniture, hobby equipment and household items. According to forecasts highlighted in SmartPosti's Logistics Trend Report 2026, global online sales of second-hand clothing could grow by an average of 13% annually, around five times faster than traditional clothing retail. But from a logistics perspective, what is particularly interesting is not only what people buy, but how these changing habits are transforming the movement of parcels.
Platforms such as Vinted and Andelemandele have made the process remarkably simple. Take a photo, list an item, wait for someone to buy it, and suddenly you're the one sending a parcel. In a way, each of us can become a small online store, even if only for a moment.
This is fundamentally changing the traditional logistics model. In the past, thousands of parcels started their journey from a handful of large warehouses. Today, they can originate from thousands of different locations – people's homes, offices and nearby parcel lockers. Transactions are also increasingly crossing national borders. For buyers, it matters less and less whether the jacket they've found is in Riga, Vilnius or Warsaw.
However, the growth of the second-hand market depends on more than just the willingness to buy and sell. Trust is equally important. According to the Logistics Trend Report, 41% of respondents identified concerns about product quality as a barrier to buying second-hand goods, while 33% questioned the reliability of transactions and 22% considered the buying or selling process too complicated. For sellers, inconvenience was the biggest obstacle, mentioned by 41% of respondents.
Digital platforms have already helped remove some of these barriers. Payments, delivery options and, increasingly, returns are becoming more similar to traditional e-commerce. The role of logistics is to provide the infrastructure that makes this possible: clear delivery processes, parcel tracking, convenient delivery and return options, and interconnected networks across different countries.
Yet peer-to-peer second-hand trading is only one of the most visible signs of a much broader shift. Traditionally, a product followed a fairly simple path: from manufacturer to retailer to customer. In today's circular economy, that journey increasingly looks more like a network.
A jacket originally purchased in Latvia might find a new owner in Lithuania a few years later, before eventually making its way to Poland. A smartphone might be traded in, inspected, refurbished and sold again. Children's clothing can pass through several owners, while sports equipment can be rented rather than purchased.
Logistics is no longer simply about moving goods in one direction, from seller to buyer. A purchase is no longer necessarily the final destination in a product's journey.
These changes create not only new challenges for logistics providers, but also new opportunities for businesses. Brands and retailers can develop their own resale channels, introduce trade-in programmes, refurbish and resell returned products, or offer rental and sharing services. An item that might once have become a warehouse problem or ended up as waste can gain economic value again.
But for these business models to work at scale, logistics must evolve too. Products need to move not only from businesses to customers, but also in the opposite direction – back to warehouses, repair centres, inspection facilities and resale channels, before eventually reaching their next owner.
The growth of the second-hand market is a clear example of how our relationship with products is changing. We are gradually moving from a logistics model focused primarily on delivering products to customers towards one that supports products throughout their entire lifecycle.
Perhaps this is why the most important question for the future of logistics will no longer be simply: How do we get a product to the customer?
Increasingly, we will also need to ask: How do we help it continue its journey?
About the research: Moving the World, Caring for Tomorrow
The Logistics Trend Report 2026 is based on two main sources of research and insights:
1. Analysis by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
VTT, Finland's leading technology research organisation, conducted an in-depth analysis of future logistics trends commissioned by Posti.
2. A survey of 2,375 business decision-makers across five countries
Conducted by Posti in cooperation with research company Norstat, the survey gathered insights from business decision-makers in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It explored their views on logistics trends, risks and investment plans. Respondents represented businesses regardless of which logistics service provider they currently use.
By combining these two perspectives, the report provides insights into both global developments and the practical needs of businesses across the Nordic and Baltic countries.
Read the full report here.