Resourceful Singaporeans use Carousell to cash in during Circuit Breaker

A user behaviour study by Carousell has found that searches for “circuit breaker” goods doubled as more Singaporeans took to Carousell to make the most out of the lockdown. 

During the circuit breaker alone (Feb – Jun 2020), the average Singaporean made $2,200, selling on Carousell. In a survey conducted last year by the classified platform, 58.8% of respondents felt that they could only make $250 or less by selling underused items.

“Singaporeans have become increasingly resourceful through buying and selling second hand items,” a press release from Carousell stated on Tuesday (21 Jul). 

As people started working from home, 6.2 millions searches for work-from-home equipment were made during this period, an increase of 2 million from the period between September 2019 and January 2020. 

Searches for workout equipment also quadrupled from 88,000 to 384,000 when home exercises started to become the norm. 

Many people started baking as well which led searches for whisks to jump from 104,000 to 243,000.

An average of 4 baking items were sold every hour on Carousell, and there was a record five times increase in the search for baking ingredients, such as cream cheese, flour and vanilla extract (338,000 searches). 

Ng Chee Soon, Managing Director of Carousell Singapore said: “The spirit of the Carousell community never ceases to inspire us every single day. Listening to the stories of how Singaporeans have benefited from our marketplace during the outbreak of a pandemic has been a validation that our mission, to inspire every person in the world to start selling and buying, is now more relevant than ever.”