Purpose – This paper aims to identify marketing strategies incentivizing consumers to purchase used goods and explain how socio-material arrangements frame second-hand retail (SHR). The growing significance and professionalization of SHR underscore the pivotal role of marketing, necessitating an exploration of how second-hand stores can stimulate the consumption of used items.

Design/methodology/approach – Ethnographically inspired fieldwork was conducted across a second-hand shopping mall with 17 stores in Sweden, utilizing actor-network theory (ANT) concepts to examine marketing activities and how these form strategies.

Findings – The findings reveal two marketing strategies: enrolling sustainability supporters and second-hand shoppers. Additionally, the findings provide examples of how SHR can be framed as environmentally friendly, socially sustainable, value for money, creatively experiential and facilitating sustainable consumer behavior.

Practical implications – Understanding the framing processes inherent in second-hand retailing presents opportunities to reinforce the transition to a circular economy. Second-hand retailers can leverage marketing to imbue used goods with greater significance for consumers, which necessitates marketing competencies.

Originality/value – The paper delves into activities that enhance the attractiveness of used goods, a research area that warrants increased attention.