In 2017, everyone’s a retailer
Social media like Facebook opens the floodgates to second-hand sales
Debby Thompson is a maker from way back when her children were toddlers and she would put them down for a nap and go to work in her basement, making wooden dolls for sale at craft shows.
Now that her children are adults, Thompson has returned to working with wood – except this time she is repurposing old furniture with paint and instead of selling her wares at craft shows, she is using social media to sell her projects.
She sells her labours of love on VarageSale, a buying and selling tool that is one of the new kids on the block in the world of what used to be called classified ads, part of the burgeoning trade in second-hand goods on social media.
Unlike Craigslist, which poached the classified ads business from newspapers in the 1990s, VarageSale requires members to log in using Facebook Connect, permitting access to their name and a profile photo, lifting the cloak of anonymity. Each request for membership is manually reviewed.
It’s an innovation that is proving popular with women – 80 per cent of VarageSale’s membership is female, and business has doubled in a year, according to VarageSale CEO Andrew Sider.
“I think there is some evidence that a disruption is happening,” said Sider.
Kijiji and Craigslist disrupted print classifieds and moved them online. Now social media selling is disrupting Kijiji and Craigslist, according to Janet Bannister, who is in a position to know – she founded Kijiji in Canada and is now a member of the board of directors at VarageSale.
“It creates what feels like a friendlier and more social place to buy and sell,” said Bannister, general partner, Real Ventures.
Second-hand sellers are using social media platforms like Instagram, posting items for sale using hashtags, like #Torontobuyandsell or #buyandsell, or #buyandsellkicks.
About 450 million people globally manage and visit Facebook buy and sell groups monthly, to trade, swap, buy and discuss Lululemon bras and hockey cards, horse tack and wheel rims.
A big attraction is the cost of selling, which is zero, as compared to eBay or Amazon.
“There are no fees. Free is good,” said Charlene Hodder, an administrator of Lululemon 911, where members buy and sell Lululemon products, quickly.
“I’ve met girls that I would call some of my best friends,” said Hodder, who lives in Fredericton.
“This community – we have chat groups, we have try-on groups, all these little sister groups. There are hundreds of us that really do truly feel like we know each other. I’ve met probably a dozen of these girls in real life. It’s a neat little community that we have going on as well.”
Hodder doesn’t make money on the sales that take place on her Facebook page.
In response to the popularity of the buy and sell groups being
founded on Facebook, the social media network last year launched Facebook Marketplace, where users can post items for sale and buyers can search by category or geography. The service is only available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
“Buy and sell groups are great community builders for us,” according to a Facebook spokesperson.
“Marketplace is an extension of that.”
There are no current plans to launch the product in Canada.
The market for second-hand goods is expanding in other directions.
ThredUP, the largest online thrift store in the world, recently began shipping to Canada. Launched eight years ago in San Francisco, it now does business in 26 countries, according to James Reinhart, co-founder and CEO.
ThredUP research pegs the apparel resale market in the U.S. at $18 billion a year.
“I think increasingly, customers are shopping online and I think increasingly, customers don’t want to pay full price,” said Reinhart.
Kijiji pegs the value of the second-hand market in Canada at $29 billion for all items, including apparel.
Despite the increased competition from social media selling sites, Kijiji hit traffic records in April and May, with more than 17.3 million unique visits each month, according to Matthew McKenzie, general manager, Kijiji Canada.
“Comparatively, others are just starting out while we maintain critical mass and unparalleled inventory,” said McKenzie, in an e-mailed response to questions.
The growth in social media selling doesn’t seem to have undermined Craigslist or Kijiji yet.
Craigslist saw a slight decline in traffic between November and April, down to 2.7 million visits a month from 3.0 million, according to Darrick Li, director, sales, ComScore Canada. That’s still well within the site’s typical range of 2.5-3.5 million unique visitors a month.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say they need to press the panic button at Craigslist,” said Li. Kijiji, meanwhile, remains the undisputed leader of buying and selling online in Canada, with 17.5 million unique visits a month, according to Li.
As robust as the second-hand marketplace has become, Bhupesh Shah, professor and co-ordinator of the social media program at Toronto’s Seneca College, said he doubts the growth of the secondhand market is affecting bricks and mortar stores in a significant way.
“What these apps are doing is they are extending an existing offering and making it more convenient.”