Depop: Instagram meets eBay
Depop is a fast-growing app that allows people to make money on clothes they may not like anymore but aren’t ready to be thrown away. Many people claim to Goodwill a lot of clothes that still have tags on them and clothes they have barely worn. Depop offers a way for people to sell the clothes they never wear or no longer want and make back a profit on those articles of clothing. Top Depop sellers are making as much as $10,000 a month by creating their own fashion to sell and selling what they already own. According to Depop (2012) their goal is to be a place for people to “Sell [their] stuff by simply taking a picture. Follow your friends. Buy unique things”. By helping sellers feel unique, connect with friends, and create a greener way to buy and sell clothes solving many issues other companies and websites face. By buying and selling clothes people already have it gives articles of clothing a new life cycle with one consumer after they have found the end of theirs with another. Not to mention many consumers find the best of both worlds by selling their clothes for-profit and then using that money to buy new clothes that are not as expensive as they would be from a chain company.
Circuit of Culture
Identity
In 2019 Depop raised $62 million to fund its expansion into the United States that was foreseen to triple its user base (Hanbury, 2019). Shortly after Depop was bought by Etsy for $1.6 billion. Etsy saw Depop as a “fast-growing trend of generation Z” (Neate, 2021). Simon Beckerman founded Depop “for fun” back in 2011 and is expected to make a good amount of this sale as he owns 4% of Depop’s shares (Hanbury, 2019). 90% of Depops users are under the age of 26 making the abundance of users very young. This makes it so that majority of sellers are selling to the same age buyers. Depop is currently looking to raise $8 million to continue its US expansion and set up a permanent office in New York (Ohr, 2017). Depop currently has over 30 million users in over 150 countries. Depop strives to be the leader in resale clothing. Turning what is considered old into new.
By cutting out the “fast fashion”, Depop is able to sell clothes that aren’t popular at the moment but will be in the upcoming months. With users shopping to fit their own desired unique niches they are able to create their own wardrobe at a cheaper rate while also saving the environment. Depop aims to take away the stigma of “second-hand” clothing. There is much more to buying second hand and it shouldn’t be looked at negatively. You can now get rid of clothes you may no longer like while making money and being greener (Knowles, 2018).
Production and Consumption
For Depop production is taken care of by the consumers and producers of the app. Depop simply created a platform that people can buy and sell on their own without any real help from the actual company. Depop handles shipping and the payment transaction but besides that, it is up to sellers what they decide to upload to sell, how they will price their item, what their description of the item is, and it is on them to sell it. For buyers, they simply log onto the app look up what they are looking to purchase, and then scroll until they see something they like. As for the advertising of Depop, they do a good job at placing ads on big social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (Depopmarket, 2014). On these apps, ads for certain articles of clothing will pop up, and when it is clicked on the consumer is taken to the app and shown many options just like what is being sold. As for who is the majority of consumers on Depop that would be Gen Z. According to Neate (2021), Depop was ranked the 10th most visited site among generation Z.
Representation
There are two types of people that represent Depop- buyers, and sellers. For a buyer, their role is easy and up to them. They can hop on the app or website whenever they want to browse for what they are looking for and simply get off the app whenever they are done. If they have found something they like they can like the image, message the seller, or purchase the item on the spot. It is up to them if they would like to debate the price with the seller. If they would like to do that, they can direct message the seller offering their price. They then must wait back to hear what the seller says, if they agree they will change the listing price and then the buyer can purchase.
As for sellers, their job on Depop is more intricate. Not only are they responsible for creating and maintaining their own listings, but they manage the shipping and handling of their items as well. Sellers oversee taking pictures of the item they are being sold, categorizing the item, pricing it, and making it active. Once the listing is live, sellers must respond to direct messages promptly and provide answers to questions being asked. If one of their listings is bought, the seller must package up the item, print out the shipping label, and take it to where it can be shipped out to the buyer.
As seen in the picture below, all the information must be filled in about a listing in order to give items the best chance at being sold. Sellers reading this should be able to get all the information about an item based on the listing post.
Regulation
Depop aims to keep the app safe, inclusive, and respectful. They take a zero-tolerance approach to behavior such as bullying, harassment, body shaming, threatening messages, or sexual advances. Depop leaves much up to the customers especially when it comes to how they want to list their items. If it turns out that false advertising is going on then Depop will step in and help solve the problem.Along with that, Depop has a list of items that is not allowed to be sold on the app. These items include things such as:
There are 37 items total that Depop prohibits its sellers from listing on the app. They do this to keep the app safe and user-friendly. Besides these items, sellers on the app have a lot of freedom. They can add or remove listings whenever they want. Reprice them as they see fit. Offer discounts to certain people or at certain times. They can even offer trades between other sellers.
References:
Depop. (2012, December 16). Retrieved November 4, 2021, from https://web.archive.org/web/20121216162547/http://www.depop.com:80/.
Depopmarket. (2014, August 4). About. Depop blog -. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from https://web.archive.org/web/20140804191515/http://blog.depop.com/about.
Hanbury, Mary. “A Social Shopping App That’s like a Mix of Ebay and Instagram Just Raised $62 Million to Triple Its US Users.” Business Insider. Business Insider, June 7, 2019. https://www.businessinsider.com/shopping-app-depop-raises-62-million-and-plans-us-expansion-2019-6.
Knowles, K. (2018, April 26). Depop CEO: Solving 3 big problems for young cool shoppers. Forbes. Retrieved November 4, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/kittyknowles/2018/04/26/depop-ceo-solving-3-big-problems-for-young-cool-shoppers/?sh=527a5c8e7b40.
Neate, R. (2021, June 2). Etsy buys secondhand clothing app Depop to tap into gen Z. The Guardian. Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/jun/02/etsy-buys-second-hand-clothing-app-depop-to-tap-into-gen-z.
Ohr, T. (2017, May 21). UK-based social shopping app Depop raises $8M for US expansion /. EU. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.eu-startups.com/2015/01/uk-based-social-shopping-app-depop-raises-8m-for-us-expansion/.
Osmanski, Stephanie. “What Is Depop? All Your Online Thrifting Questions-Answered.” Parade. Parade: Entertainment, Recipes, Health, Life, Holidays, June 30, 2021. https://parade.com/1230036/stephanieosmanski/what-is-depop/.
Thapa, Anuz. “What Is Depop?” TheStreet. TheStreet, June 2, 2021. https://www.thestreet.com/video/depop-etsy-explained.