Across the internet, the resale market is blowing up. At the high end, platforms like TheRealReal and StockX are making it easier than ever to buy and sell luxury goods, while ThredUP has become the world’s largest online thrift store.
In the middle of the market, there’s Poshmark. Today, the eight-year-old company announces it has paid out $2 billion to its community of seven million sellers. And what’s even more surprising is that a year ago, the company hit its $1 billion milestone, meaning it has doubled revenues generated for sellers in a single year. It’s just another sign that the resale market is gaining speed.
Poshmark differs from competitors thanks to its “social selling” model. The platform feels a lot more like a social media site, where users create profiles and chat with one another about products before someone makes a purchase. As a result, the average Poshmark user spends between 23 and 27 minutes a day on the platform, sharing 30 million listings daily.
“I think part of our success is that we’re led by our community,” says Manish Chandra, co-founder and CEO.
While other resale sites have stringent guidelines about the brands and quality of product that sellers can put up for sale, Poshmark gives users more freedom to decide what to sell, which means there is a lot of variety on the site, from J.Crew T-shirts to Gucci bags. For items valued at $500 and above, Poshmark offers free authentication services. Earlier this year, the company opened a new warehouse to accommodate the growing team of experts who inspect products.
As the platform scales, it is expanding in numerous ways. For one thing, it is expanding beyond fashion into the home decor market. It is also growing internationally, as it has just become available to the Canada market. Serena Williams has just joined Poshmark’s board.
The growth of the resale market is good from a sustainability perspective because it keeps products on the market longer, ensuring they get more use before they are eventually thrown out. However, more research needs to be done to understand the environmental impact of shipping items back and forth across the country.
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