The Maze: Vinted is not beating Depop with one clever growth trick. It is compounding three ordinary ones. Consumer Edge's UK cohort data shows Vinted's shopper count rising from 176 to 521 across four rolling annual windows, transactions per shopper climbing from 13.2 to 17.7, and average spend per transaction moving from £12 to £14. Depop still commands the premium ticket. Its latest £32 average is more than twice Vinted's. But a premium basket is a lonely advantage when the audience shrinks and customers return only three times a year. Vinted is building a habit. Depop is protecting a boutique.
Reach is doing most of the heavy lifting. Vinted's displayed shopper measure nearly tripled from 176 in 2022–23 to 521 in 2025–26. Depop moved the other way, from 31 to 15. The source does not disclose the unit behind those counts or the panel's sample size, so these are directional cohort measures rather than a census of UK users. The divergence is still hard to miss. Marketplace liquidity improves when more buyers meet more sellers. More listings create more discovery. More discovery gives sellers a reason to list again. Vinted's growth loop is becoming denser while Depop's UK loop is thinning.
Frequency turns reach into an operating advantage. The average Vinted shopper increased from 13.2 to 17.7 transactions per year, a 34% rise. Depop ended at 3.1, essentially where it began. That gap matters more than a vanity user number. Repeated purchases shorten the distance between consideration and conversion, improve the odds that supply finds demand, and give the platform more chances to monetize protection, shipping and adjacent services. A shopper who opens an app every few weeks behaves differently from one who visits once a season. Habit is the quiet infrastructure of a marketplace.
The low ticket is a feature, not a flaw. Vinted's average transaction rose modestly from £12 to £14. Depop's stayed around £30–£34 and finished at £32. The obvious reading is that Depop sells more valuable pieces. The strategic reading is that Vinted has made lower-value inventory economical enough to circulate repeatedly. A £14 order needs cheap listing, simple shipping and low perceived risk. If those systems work, the addressable wardrobe gets much larger. Vinted can monetize turnover; Depop relies more on curation and a higher-value occasion.
Depop's premium positioning cannot outrun weak engagement. A £32 ticket sounds attractive until it is multiplied by only 3.1 annual transactions. Vinted's £14 ticket multiplied by 17.7 transactions produces far more annual purchase activity per shopper. That is not a full revenue calculation: platform fees, seller economics, refunds and payment mix are missing. It does show why average order value alone is a poor marketplace health metric. The stronger machine wins by combining enough ticket with far more occasions.
The strategic risk is execution, not demand discovery. Consumer Edge places Vinted among the UK's biggest fashion sellers and says it already challenges Next and Primark on sales volume. The next constraint is keeping trust, moderation and fulfilment quality intact as more low-value goods move through the system. Growth raises liquidity, but it also raises the cost of fraud prevention, customer support and dispute resolution. The flywheel is powerful only while the experience remains boringly reliable.
Why it matters: Resale is often framed as a sustainability trend or a Gen Z taste cycle. Vinted's numbers look more like marketplace engineering. It expanded the audience, increased visit-to-purchase habit and nudged the ticket upward at the same time. Depop still owns a more curated, higher-ticket proposition, but that niche has not produced comparable UK frequency. Operators should watch the multiplication, not the headline metric. Reach × frequency × ticket is the growth engine. Vinted currently owns all three gears.
Sources: Consumer Edge analysis
