Replaced too soon? An exploration of Western European consumers’ replacement of electronic products
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This article explores consumers’ replacement of electronic products. A survey with 617 participants from Western Europe who had recently replaced their smartphones, vacuum cleaners, televisions or washing machines gives us insights on the age and state of products when replaced, repair considerations and the extent to which 19 reasons for replacement influenced the replacement decision. Overall, the results show that lifetimes were relatively short. Most products were replaced while they were still performing their main function, but showing a loss in performance. A majority of respondents (60%) replacing their defective product did not even consider repairing it. Interestingly, more of the respondents considered repairing a broken product (58.6%) than a partly malfunctioning one (30%). Washing machines were replaced for functional reasons while televisions were replaced because the consumers were attracted by the new features. Satiation was consistently one of the most important reasons to replace smartphones, vacuum cleaners and televisions.
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Failing to meet evolving expectations for performance, features and user experience creates significant barriers, such as a loss of consumer trust and a stigma against aging devices, ultimately hindering the widespread adoption of circular business models.
“Failing to meet evolving expectations for performance, features and user experience creates significant barriers, such as a loss of consumer trust and a stigma against aging devices, ultimately hindering the widespread adoption of CBMs (Magnier and Mugge 2022;van den Berge et al. 2023).”
From Integrating Life Cycle Assessment, Monetised Externalities and Value Alignment for Strategic Reconfiguration of Circular Business Models: The Case of Smartphones (2026) · cites this paper as Magnier and Mugge 2022
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAlthough extending the product life cycle promotes sufficiency, it can simultaneously erode the perceived consumer value proposition if products are perceived as outdated.
“Although extending the PLC promotes sufficiency, it can simultaneously erode the perceived consumer value proposition if products are perceived as outdated.”
From Integrating Life Cycle Assessment, Monetised Externalities and Value Alignment for Strategic Reconfiguration of Circular Business Models: The Case of Smartphones (2026) · cites this paper as Magnier and Mugge 2022
Tailoring a compelling value proposition is the primary hurdle for the product-as-a-service model, as it must overcome deeply ingrained consumer preferences for product ownership and concerns about long-term costs.
“Tailoring a compelling value proposition is the primary hurdle, as it must overcome deeply ingrained consumer preferences for product ownership and concerns about long-term costs (Boyer et al. 2021;Magnier and Mugge 2022).”
From Integrating Life Cycle Assessment, Monetised Externalities and Value Alignment for Strategic Reconfiguration of Circular Business Models: The Case of Smartphones (2026) · cites this paper as Magnier and Mugge 2022
Section 2.3 discusses how consumers weigh the value and costs of replacing an owned product. It does not address product-as-a-service, a preference for ownership over that model, long-term service costs, or the claim that crafting a value proposition is its primary hurdle. Searches for product-as-a-service, ownership preferences, subscriptions, and long-term costs found no passage addressing those points; page numbers were unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.72)
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Sorted by citations
Rittershaus, P., Aryan, V., & Renner, M. (2025) · WIREs Energy and Environment · doi:10.1002/wene.70006 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Rittershaus, P., Aryan, V., Sánchez, D., Renner, M., & Poeppelbuss, J. (2026) · Business Strategy and the Environment · doi:10.1002/bse.70271 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- Magnier, L., & Mugge, R.
- Affiliations
- Delft University of Technology (NL)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Magnier, L.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Resources, Conservation and Recycling
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-10
- Volume
- 185
- Pages
- 106448
- ISSN
- 0921-3449 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4283074670
- Cited by
- 67
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 9.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Resources Conservation and Recycling (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Research Repository (Delft University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- European Commission (820331, HORIZON2020)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Sustainable Supply Chain Management
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Sustainable Design and Development
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
- Keywords
- product substitution, electronic devices, consumer behavior, product lifetime, defective products, satiation, smartphones, vacuum cleaners, television, washing machines, Western Europe
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