Poshmark Posh Shows
Photo: Poshmark

Is Livestream Selling a Good Fit For Resale?

Poshmark, the resale marketplace, introduced Posh Shows, enabling users to sell secondhand products via live video from their homes.

Posh Shows, available in North America,  tout four benefits:

A fun, fast-paced format: Sellers go live and sell items in fast-paced auctions, where they set the starting price and duration. Sellers “can quickly move through inventory” while shoppers engage in a “dynamic, entertaining shopping experience, discovering products.”

Easy to start selling, easy to earn: A Quick List feature enables “anyone to take an item, create a listing on the fly, and sell it live in seconds.” Poshmark’s shipping, payment, customer support and authentication options also support Posh Shows.

Built for discovery and exposure: Sophisticated merchandising and discovery tools enable sellers to match products with buyer interests. Hosts can add “Show Tags” to describe their show and optimize discovery.

Selling and succeeding together: A “Sell Together” function enables hosts to auction items from other sellers’ closets, enabling the sellers to curate their shows with fresh inventory while helping others make sales. Poshmark stated in its release, “This community-based approach fuels a continuous growth engine that allows every seller to succeed.”

Sellers have hosted more than 100,000 shows since Poshmark began testing Posh Shows in the fourth quarter while shoppers have placed more than four million bids in live auctions.

“We saw a huge gap in live commerce in the U.S.,” said Tracy Sun, SVP of seller experience at Poshmark, in a press release.

ThredUP’s eleventh resale report, which arrived last week, predicted the global secondhand market for apparel would nearly double by 2027, reaching $350 billion. Value continues to be the leading purchasing driver for consumers while the practice’s sustainability aligns with both consumer and company priorities.

Live commerce has taken off in China and is slowly gaining traction in the U.S. EMarketer research from January estimated U.S. sales of social commerce, which includes live auctions, would grow from $46 billion in 2022 to $80 billion by 2025. EMarketer stated, “Tech-savvy Millennials and Gen Zers, who are familiar with and motivated by influencer content, will likely engage with social commerce more often.”

BrainTrust

"The Posh Shows concept is brave and courageous, built around the art of discovery, a crucial element of the shopping experience."

Brandon Rael

Strategy & Operations Transformation Leader


"This concept works regardless of whose closet you are selling from, an individual or a retailer. Basically, everyone can have their own instant QVC channel. Makes sense."

Ken Morris

Managing Partner Cambridge Retail Advisors


"The con is that the nature of live-selling is show and tell. Maybe I am wrong, but I find it hard to imagine that sellers could try on all the clothes they want to sell live. "

Tara Kirkpatrick

Mobile Trends Analyst, Apptopia


Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Do livestreaming and sales of secondhand clothing and accessories go together? What is your review of the Posh Show concept?

Poll

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Ken Morris
Trusted Member
11 months ago

Retail is theater, and this idea just adds a new act to the play. This concept works regardless of whose closet you are selling from. It can be an individual or a retailer. Basically, everyone can have their own instant QVC channel. Makes sense. This will generate interest and sales while creating compelling content. Going “live” has become a very popular trend on social media among Gen Z and Millennials. That’s why reselling products live is a great idea. It helps people connect and sell products faster through instant engagement.

Bob Amster
Trusted Member
11 months ago

There are more questions about resale items during the purchase process than about first quality items, therefore livestreaming should play a bigger part in the resale market.

John Lietsch
Active Member
11 months ago

The gig economy opened the door to numerous opportunities and selling your secondhand clothing and accessories using livestream is better than sitting outside your garage all day. Live commerce which includes shoppable broadcasting and shoppable videoconferencing has been slow to take off outside of China but I think it will continue to grow as the value of the format becomes more apparent. I had the pleasure of meeting with Poshmark at Shoptalk and have watched a few of their Posh Shows. Posh Shows are a cool way to add people to the online selling experience which can increase conversion rates on par with those experienced “in-store.” Posh Shows are a cool idea that is far different from what was and continues to be successful in China. The Posh Shows aren’t hosted by celebrities or popular influencers and I believe that format will prove more sustainable. I wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually add shoppable videoconferencing for their higher priced, luxury items (digital concierge commerce).

Gene Detroyer
Noble Member
11 months ago

It sounds like fun. More than that, it appears to be designed to attract that younger demographic that embraces resale.

Brandon Rael
Active Member
11 months ago

Livestreaming has gained significant momentum in China and other markets. However there is still plenty of progress to be made before livestreaming becomes a viable commercial stream for retailers and resellers. As immersive commerce strategies come together over the next several years, including leveraging capabilities such as livestreaming, monetizing off of the metaverse, TikTok monetization, and commerce opportunities, the resale market may have a chance to connect and engage with Gen Z.

Considering the slow crawl with livestreaming adoption, retailers and resalers should continue to have a diversification strategy that spans all shopping channels. The Posh Shows concept is brave and courageous, built around the art of discovery, a crucial element of the shopping experience. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and whether livestreaming will regain momentum in the U.S. market in 2023 and beyond.

Lee Peterson
Member
11 months ago

Isn’t this already called Depop? All the Gen Zers in my family have made a living from time to time performing this exact process. P.S.: they told me, “it’s not as easy as you think.” My Boomer reply was, “and what is?” Anyway, yeah, it works.

Tara Kirkpatrick
11 months ago

The pro of this is community building, a strategy for app engagement and retention. It’s really hard to launch live video on apps because many don’t have the engagement for it to be a success to begin with, so this speaks volumes to Poshmark’s active user base (and in fact, they do lead clothing resale apps in engagement, according to Apptopia). The con is that the nature of live-selling is show and tell. Maybe I am wrong, but I find it hard to imagine that sellers could try on all the clothes they want to sell live. That’s the miss for me. As someone who shops secondhand often, I am a fan of thrifting app Curty’s integration of video, which looks like TikTok shorts where the sellers have the clothing on and are talking through the fit. The biggest pain point for a secondhand shopper is not being able to return if the fit or material isn’t as expected, so this use of video helps a lot.

Neil Saunders
Famed Member
11 months ago

This is an interesting addition. There are pros and cons. The pro: it’s a great way to showcase unique and interesting products, especially at the luxury end of the market. Another pro is that resale works very well when it is social, as platforms like Poshmark have shown. The downside is that resale often involves individual items rather than multiple items of stock, so it’s a lot of effort to sell one product.

Melissa Minkow
Active Member
11 months ago

I think livestreaming and secondhand clothing are a match made in heaven. It’s extremely important that consumers be able to fully understand the fit of secondhand apparel while shopping digitally, and this accomplishes that. I continue to await the day that livestreaming really takes over the U.S. retail industry because I feel that’s just around the corner.

Patrick Jacobs
11 months ago

Personalized content that allows viewers to trust and engage with sellers goes hand in hand. The Posh Show concept adds a lot of delight to the online shopping journey and will mirror the success other brands are seeing after adopting live commerce.

The resale market will continue to grow, and this strategic move will speak to the Poshmark customer, especially those wanting to get a higher level understanding of the showcased items.