Poshmark Releases First Ever Closet-Sharing Economy Report

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Fastest growing mobile marketplace for fashion details top brands, buying, selling and shipping trends and unique user behavior insights for 2013

MENLO PARK, Calif.—Jan 15, 2014—Today Poshmark, the largest mobile marketplace for buying and selling women’s fashion, is issuing the world’s first- ever report on peer-to-peer fashion trends from the Closet-Sharing Economy. The first annual report details exactly how this exciting market is evolving from a merchandise, transaction and consumer behavior perspective.

Poshmark is the fashion industry’s answer to the sharing economy – a mobile shopping marketplace that gives women the power to buy and sell clothes and accessories from their own closets. Women can list items for sale in less than 60 seconds via the free iOS and Android app and shop hundreds of thousands of women’s closets with prices up to 70 percent off retail – right from their smartphones.

Poshmark has millions of users, and over a million dollars worth of inventory is uploaded into the marketplace every day. In 2013 alone, women have bought and sold over 1.5 million items from each other.

Here are 10 key findings of the Closet-Sharing Economy:

1. Women have 19 items in their closet that they’re ready to sell: Across the board, a Poshmark closet has 18.9 items for sale on average, demonstrating exactly how much of a typical woman’s closet is ready for a refresh. The largest single seller boasts an impressive 3,549 items in her closet! Depending on size and item, this means a typical woman’s closet has a full check-in suitcase worth of merchandise she’s ready to part ways with.

2. These are the most popular brands (top 5 in order):

Popular Designer Brands:

  1. Coach
  2. LouisVuitton
  3. Michael Kors
  4. ToryBurch
  5. CHANEL

Cult-followed Designer Brands:

  1. 3.1 Phillip Lim
  2. Alexander Wang
  3. Balenciaga
  4. Vince
  5. Rag & Bone

Teen Favorites:

  1. Forever21
  2. AmericanEagle
  3. JeffreyCampbell
  4. Abercrombie&Fitch
  5. BrandyMelville

3. Handbags, shoes, jewelry and dresses are the most popular items in the marketplace. Handbags in general take the top spot in this year’s Closet- Sharing Economy report, reflective of broader market trends where handbags represent one of the fastest growing fashion segments. This segment is growing in the post-recession environment where consumers are getting smarter about their spending and has led to a boom in Poshmark’s secondary market where women are still buying the top global brands, but doing so at up to 70 percent off original retail prices. In addition to handbags and shoes, other popular categories include jewelry and accessories, followed by dresses and skirts.

4. The most popular brands in each category are (top 5 in order):

Handbags:

  1. Coach
  2. Louis Vuitton
  3. Michael Kors
  4. Gucci
  5. CHANEL

Popular Designer Shoes:

  1. Tory Burch
  2. Coach
  3. Christian Louboutin
  4. Gucci
  5. Michael Kors

Jewelry and Accessories:

  1. Tiffany & Co.
  2. Michael Kors
  3. David Yurman
  4. Ray-Ban
  5. Kate Spade

Dresses and Skirts:

  1. J. Crew
  2. Anthropologie
  3. Free People
  4. H&M
  5. BCBGMaxAzria

5. Louis Vuitton and Lululemon move at lightening pace: Poshmark measures brands that are currently trending and move fastest in the marketplace. The five fastest selling brands from listing to sale are: Louis Vuitton, Lululemon, Brandy Melville, Frye, and Longchamp.

6. Mobile means the closet light is on Friday nights: When it comes to buying from other women, Friday night is prime-time on Poshmark, as that’s payday of course! The 24/7 mobile-first experience of Poshmark means the marketplace is always open and accessible, thus leading to an earlier weekly purchase cycle than traditional brick and mortar retailers which see their highest purchase activity on Saturdays.

7. Was 2013 the year that Android finally became fashionable?: With the introduction of Android users into the marketplace in late 2013, Poshmark is seeing very little difference in their buying and selling activity vs. iOS users, leading the company to believe that there is a trend in style savvy women switching to Android devices.

8. Social shopping leads to sales: In addition to being the largest mobile fashion marketplace, Poshmark is a unique social community in which women interact seven to eight times per day for 20-25 minutes on average. That means the average Posher has spent over 150 hours on Poshmark in 2013 and the top 25 sellers average over 100,000 people following their closet. Besides buying and selling they are liking, commenting and sharing over a million times every day.

9. Women love to party: When the company first started throwing their signature Posh Parties where women gather around in the app in real-time to buy and sell within a certain theme or designer they were doing three to four parties a week and would see approximately 50 listings for each party. Now the app offers three parties a day, seven days a week and the largest evening party has seen over 250,000 listings and at any given moment a party can have over 50,000 people simultaneously sharing and shopping in real-time.

10. Women don’t need drones to ship merchandise at record speed: Closet- sharing moves at a quick pace and women don’t wait to mail products to each other. The average shipping time is only five days from order to received product. This rivals most e-tailers such as Amazon, Gilt Groupe, Zappos, and Modcloth.

“We published this report because we believe the fashion industry can learn quite a bit from the closet-sharing movement in how they think about their products true lifespan as well as exactly what motivates consumers to engage with each other beyond just transactions,” said Manish Chandra, CEO of Poshmark. “Millions of women listing items from their closets is having a bigger impact than just sharing and we expect such marketplaces to outpace any retailer in 2014 when it comes to inventory selection and prices.”

Methodology:

By looking at a combination of revenue, orders and listings, Poshmark compiled its 2013 Closet Sharing Report based on over 1.5 million items sold in its mobile fashion marketplace from January 1 – December 31, 2013 to determine popularity and sell through of the brands and products across America’s connected closets.

About Poshmark

Poshmark is a mobile fashion marketplace built around real-time social experiences. Posh Parties are themed, real-time shopping events where people gather to shop, share, and sell fashion right from their phones. Poshmark’s vibrant community brings fashion lovers together to share their individual style, turning every closet into a unique shopping experience. Founded in February 2011, Poshmark is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA. For more information, please visit www.poshmark.com.