How Poshmark is Leveraging Data and Machine Learning to Build Personalized Recommendation Engines
How Poshmark is Leveraging Data and Machine Learning to Build Personalized Recommendation Engines

The global pandemic has only accelerated India’s willingness to embrace online commerce. At the same time, Indians are spending approximately 17 hours online/week (~2.5 hrs/day) on social media and networking sites/ watching videos. According to a recent Bain and Co. and Sequoia India report, social commerce in India is a $1.5-$2 billion market today and will be worth as much as $20 billion in just five years - and will likely hit nearly $70 billion by 2030. In short, India’s social commerce sector will be twice the size of the current e-commerce market within 10 years.

Additionally, the Indian market has a rapidly growing base of sustainability and value-conscious consumers. These all factors combined have opened avenues for brands like Poshmark which are at the right place and at the right time with a unique offering.

“Since its launch in the US in 2011, Poshmark has supported all types of sellers who want to build their business on Poshmark. By offering sellers flexibility in how they grow their business and robust tools that make selling a superpower, Poshmark has seen its diverse community grow and thrive,” states Anuradha Balasubramanian, Director & Head, Poshmark India Marketplace.

Women make up the majority of the Poshmark community, and it has created a platform that uniquely supports them – from fashionistas looking to clear out their closets, part-time sellers juggling other jobs and responsibilities, as well as professional resellers, some of whom have even launched their own private labels. 

“We are seeing similar trends in India. To facilitate the onboarding experience, we have allowed for seamless listing, merchandising, promotion, pricing, and shipping through PoshPost. We have also enabled fun and engaging social tools that include Posh Parties, Posh Stories, and Reposh to make it easy for sellers to sell items in just one click. We have currently set an industry benchmark in speed and convenience, allowing sellers to list their products online in 60 seconds flat. Buoyed by these initiatives, we are seeing a growing acceptance and adoption from sellers,” asserts Balasubramanian.

Challenges Faced

India has always been a value-conscious market. While affordability has been a key driver for the growth of the pre-loved market, consumers’ mounting environmental concerns have also played an important role. All generations, led by younger consumers, are growing increasingly aware of the costs of fast fashion and want to do their part to promote a more sustainable way to shop. 

“Indian’s perceptions about pre-loved styles are changing. Over the years, the resale market has grown and consumers are more willing to embrace this new way of shopping. One of our key challenges is to continue educating Indian consumers about the benefits and the desirability of buying pre-loved items,” asserts Balasubramanian.

“Poshmark’s primary focus is on investing in education and awareness to grow a strong buyer and seller community in India, which we’ve continued to do since our launch last September. We help educate community members on how to create their first listing, offer ideas on how to make a sale and locate amazing discounts, and make sure we are building a strong community that can learn from one another as they buy and sell on Poshmark,” she further adds.

Distinguishing Factor

India is a new and important market for Poshmark and it is focusing on the continued growth of its social marketplace. It is working to build a loyal, diverse community of Indian buyers and sellers and has received a strong response so far. 

“There are three elements that separate Poshmark from the rest of the industry: it is a social marketplace, it engages customers, and also provides buyer protection and authentication services.

●    A social marketplace, not just an e-commerce site: Our diverse, highly engaged, and loyal community is built on genuine human connection with a vast curated marketplace. Each listing has a section where potential customers can ask questions about items up for sale and ask sellers to style them by combining looks from their closet into a bundle, and most of our sales are preceded by social interaction on our marketplace.

●    Engaging customer experience: Buyers will discover a highly engaging, interactive, and a social shopping experience that is curated and personalized by Poshmark’s seller community. And most importantly, Poshmark offers a complete solution to the buyer and seller that enhances safety and simplifies payments, shipping, and more to allow the community to truly engage on the platform.

●    Buyer protection and authentication services: We introduced a host of buyer protection and authentication services for customers. A couple of key ones include the ‘Item Not As Described’ feature and Posh Authenticate. In case an item is not as described, a buyer can immediately flag it off to our customer service team and we take care of the issue. Through Posh Authenticate, every high-value product (priced above Rs 10,000) is authenticated by our customer service and only then listed on the site,” she elaborates.

Poshmark has seen interest from buyers and sellers across categories. It has witnessed a surge in demand for traditional Indian wear like sarees, kurtas, and more during festive and wedding seasons. 

“We are delighted to see these categories becoming increasingly popular. There is also excitement and growth across categories including western wear, branded apparel, fashion, and accessories, among others,” she further adds.

Marrying Tech With the Brand

Poshmark connects technology and values, empowering users to buy and sell with ease, access curated feeds for a targeted shopping experience, connect with a diverse community – Poshmark is unique in that it offers proprietary tech to enable social interactions and transactions at a mass scale.

“We leverage data and machine learning to build personalized recommendation engines that connect our users to merchandise, as well as to other users with similar tastes and styles. For example, our tools like ‘Just Picked for You,’ leverage machine learning to deliver personalized shopping recommendations based on users’ shopping interests, recommending items based on past likes, offers, and purchases. As a result, the more time one spends on Poshmark, the more customized the shopping experience becomes. Data-based insights help us to constantly evolve and improve our offerings,” she states.

Leveraging Social Media

Poshmark is in the formative phase in this vibrant new market, and is excited and committed to building an engaged community. It offers several in-app features like Posh Parties, Trends, Offers, Price Drops, Closet Clear Out promos, and more to empower and incentivize the community to list, curate, find their favorite items, score deals, and share the joy of owning pre-loved and new items with fellow Poshers. 

“A diverse and rich mix from across regions and age groups, Indian Poshers have responded to marketing and community campaigns with great enthusiasm and are thriving as they convert their closet to cash,” shares Balasubramanian.

“Since Poshmark is very social in nature, social media platforms and influencers play a big part in the Poshmark community. Many of our individual sellers have become influencers, building large followings on and off the platform. The collaborative nature of our community lends itself to people sharing not only their style but also tips for being successful on Poshmark. And across the markets we operate, we do often work with influencers, for example hosting celebrity closets with well-known artists, actors, and more who are authentically using the Poshmark platform to sell their style,” she further adds.

Future Plans

India is a new and important market for Poshmark, and it is investing in growing this market. Prior to launching its social marketplace in India, it had already established its India office with a strong team and R&D center with professionals from fields such as data sciences, engineering, core support, operations, and more. 

“Our objective in India is to continue building a Poshmark community in India that is vibrant and diverse, with levels of engagement on par with or greater than our other markets. We continue to innovate and employ localized tools and strategies that resonate with the Indian market. Our goal is to grow the business and become ‘the destination’ for pre-loved goods,” she concludes.
 

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