Fashion’s New Innovation: Poshmark
After hearing about Poshmark on Refinery29, I knew I needed to download the app and STAT! Poshmark makes it extremely easy for people to buy and sell clothing–all through their mobile phone. Where else can you buy stuff from fashion forward folks while getting rid of your loot at the same time–all with a few clicks of your phone. I have a pair of Manolo’s that have been sitting in my closet for years that are too big for me, but I know would be adored by any woman on the planet. After having the shoes on the site for hours, I sold my precious shoes for more than I anticipated, and they were easily shipped to my buyer.
I spoke to Poshmark’s founders, Manish Chandra and Tracy Sun, about their emerging brand, their ideas, and what is next for this app that will no doubt change every fashionista’s life! Ladies, take it from me, you NEED this!
BANGSTYLE: Who created Poshmark?
Manish: I started Poshmark last year, and it really came out of my background–I started Kaboodle which was a social shopping site. I left Hearst in 2010, and what I saw constantly was a lot of items bought and not used. I saw in my own closet a ton of shopping bags that would sit unopened. My wife’s closet is overflowing, and she still says she has nothing to wear. Tracy and I met in 2012, and we wanted to collaborate on something like this. We’ve been in the market for just about two months since launching in December and are seeing amazing responses so far. There are four founders, myself, Tracy and two others on the tech side. We’re half fashion, half tech.
BANGSTYLE: Did either of you have previous fashion experience?
Tracy: I grew up in the NYC area and had been in fashion for some time. I had been in New York and started with traditional retail, and I was a merch planner for a start -up based in New York. I slowly moved into online commerce integrating more and more technology. After meeting Manish and the rest of the team, I started working on Poshmark.
BANGSTYLE: Why did you think something like Poshmark was needed?
Manish: Just to give you a sense of the fashion business, in the US alone, we spend close to 300 billion dollars in fashion each year. By fashion, I mean apparel, accessories, and jewelry combined. Every three years, we spend around a trillion dollars on our closets in just the U.S. You know what happens to a lot of these items– they sit there and make their way to Goodwill, etc. Many are beautiful, hardly used items. The opportunity we saw was to make it very simple and easy–that was what was missing in the market. First, it’s very challenging to sell anything; second, fashion is social and visual. There was no real outlet to do that–trying to take a great photo, uploading it on your computer, getting it right, and then publishing it is difficult. In Marketplaces, things are mixed. With mobile, you can take a photo with your iPhone with our filter, you can create photos with your items in minutes, and create a beautiful portfolio–it makes it simple and the end result is gorgeous. We also created a social metaphor for shopping which came a lot from what I learned at Kaboodle which was how you create a social approach to shopping. On Poshmark, you have to follow people based on how interesting their items are. You can create your own personal fashion network. We wanted to take away the painful aspects of buying and selling items. With Poshmark, first, we take care of payment meaning you don’t have to worry about payment as everything is integrated in the system. Second, when you sell an item, we email you a prepaid pre-printed shipping label. Simply put your item in a box, attach the label, and drop it off at your nearest post office or even schedule it to be picked up. There is no hassle and no cost to the seller on shipping. Third, we provide customer support. A lot of these things can be figured out without even contacting the seller. It becomes low hassle for the buyer and low hassle for the seller. It makes it both simple and fun instead of painful.
BANGSTYLE: What differentiates you from ebay?
Manish: Two things: one is the ability to be simple from a social and operational process. Then there is the no- hassle approach we created. For example, a woman downloaded the app at 1PM, sold it by 2PM and shipped it by 4PM. Many of our users have bought and sold over twenty times in two months. Second is our Posh Party which has never existed in the online world. It’s phenomenal and exciting.
BANGSTYLE: What is a Posh Party?
Manish: A Posh Party came from an earlier idea that I had, bringing women together at 5PM with five items from their closet. That evolved into building the notion of an online virtual shop. Tracy and I experimented with them late last year, and initially we had no support so we were just using groups and seeing how it went. A Posh Party is a virtual shopping party that lasts between 1-2 hours. Women can list items or share items that they’ve already listed. Last night was Spring Trends, and women shared items that they can wear for the upcoming spring season; typically, these parties are hosted by a couple of people. We’ll have one host, blogger, or editor, but other women in the country can log in. Typically, you have hundreds of women across the country buying, listing, selling–all at the same time, in real time. It’s fantastic because if you list at that time, you get a ton of feedback, and you can also buy and sell at that time.
BANGSTYLE: What kind of woman uses Poshmark?
Tracy: I would say we have so many different types, ages 15-40, from big cities to small towns that I can’t even spell. All are pretty tech savvy and have a strong passion for fashion. I also think what’s interesting is that we’re reaching women who have never thought about selling before. A lot of sellers have never wanted to sell on ebay. We want to put control in the hands of women across the country. Women list whatever they want, when they want, and take photos showing the community how they would style it.
BANGSTYLE: What are some of the major ways you’re promoting the brand?
Manish: Posh Parties for sure. We’ve put a lot of thought into what makes sense to us. Word of mouth is the best; we have built a great community around the app. What we’ve decided to do is start with Posh Parties where we’re traveling to different places and working with style influencers to showcase local inspiration and local style. Last week, we were in LA, and the theme was Hollywood glam. We partnered with six fashion bloggers, and all six bloggers ahead of the party were inviting readers. Once live, anyone can join and partake, watch, learn, shop, and list around the theme of each party. We’re building local communities and helping women connect to other women when they’re often not able to.
BANGSTYLE: Do you take out a certain percentage of each sale?
Manish: We take a 20% commission out of each item. When you list, it will clearly show what you’ll get. Unlike other places where there are all sorts of fees, on Poshmark all of that is taken care of by us. We take care of support, shipping, fees, etc. When the item sells, that money is yours. With shipping, we can ensure you’ll never overpay for shipping. Buyers have a shipping fee, but we heavily subsidize that.
BANGSTYLE: Lets say someone wants to throw a Posh Party? How would they go about it?
Tracy: It’s easy! Contact us, and we can work with you to co-host. We don’t have the tools yet where anyone can at any time, but that’s on the rise. If you’re interested, contact hello@poshmark.com!
