Poshmark and the Move to Ecommerce
Poshmark is an online marketplace to buy and sell women's fashion, shoes and jewelry, and it's free to join. Let me tell you, it is the perfect place to purge the things you're sick of wearing, are too small or simply no longer serve a purpose. I joined just less than one year ago, and it has been fantastic! Everyone has the issue of hanging onto many things they no longer wear that are taking up room in their closet, but now you can utilize this online marketplace to actually get money for those items! I'm a millennial; I love convenience and online shopping, so this is right up my alley without the hassle of e-Bay or Amazon for clothes. These ecommerce platforms as a whole are by and large the way of the future, but for now, we'll focus on Poshmark.
To start out, I went through all of my clothes, shoes, coats, jewelry and accessories. I came up with 3+ garbage bags of items right off the bat - ridiculous, I know, but the first step is admitting you have a problem, right? From there all I did was list them in my virtual closet with an image, price and description. I tried to be as specific as possible so make my items easy to find.
Once all your items are listed, the next step is to get them seen! I approached this with a three-way attack, which started with following as many people as I could in hopes that they would follow my closet back. If you're following someone's closet, their items pop up in your feed when they list something new or make edits. From there, I attended "Posh Parties." Poshmark has three parties per day with themes. Generally, the first party is brand-specific where you can only share items to the party that are coordinating with the brands of the day. The second party is a specific type of product such as Best in Shoes or Best in Handbags, which you can only share your closet items that fit the theme. The final party of the day is a broad theme in which all items qualify. The more you share to a party, the higher the chance it is seen. Poshmark also picks a handful of hosts for each Posh Party. These hosts pick their favorite items from what is shared to the party and they become "Host Picks" and get even more attention. The most recent approach I used was actually hosting one of these parties! It was fun, and my closet gained a lot of traffic before and after.
Poshmark has become my go-to strategy with items that I am on the fence about. Everyone has some items that they don't love but just can't seem to let go of -- those are the ones I put on Poshmark, and if they sell, I make money - if they don't, I get to keep hoarding them! It's a win-win in my book. You set your own prices, so Poshmark takes a small fee off the top, but you are able to see what you would profit from each item when listing it. Once you sell an item, you package it in certain USPS boxes, print the label and drop it off at the post office. Voila! It's as simple as that because Poshmark pays for the shipping. Once it's delivered, the money is deposited directly into your account so you can go on a new shopping spree guilt-free!
You are able to shop on the site as well, but I have proudly only sold and have resisted purchasing. I personally choose platforms such as Shopbop and Gilt, but overall utilizing ecommerce platforms for the fashion and beauty industries is the way of the future. Internet retailers such as BaubleBar have all the benefits of sales without the overhead costs of brick-and-mortar stores; they have since chosen to add a store, but the business began as an ecommerce shop and built its empire that way. These initiatives get two thumbs up in my book, and I happily contribute to their growing empires far too often!