Top of Depop: How this social commerce app is changing the way Gen Z shops

Sustainable, flexible and fun, Depop is revolutionising the shopping experience 
Depop CEO Maria Raga at the company's global HQ in Shoreditch
Matt Writtle
Amelia Heathman4 July 2019

You overhear a lot in queues, particularly the five-hour one I was in for the train to leave Glastonbury last weekend. Aside from the complaints about said interminable line, the main topic of conversation of the group next to me was all about the things they had scored on Depop.

From Nike trainers to Comme des Garçons jackets — even four Casio watches for about £12 — these friends were trying to outdo each another with their respective purchases.

Depop, if you’ve never come across it before, is a peer-to-peer (P2P) commerce platform, a sort of combination of eBay and Instagram. It’s extremely popular with Generation Z; of its 13 million users across the globe, about 90 per cent are under 25. The company recently raised £50 million to propel its growth.

At the helm is Maria Raga, aged 40, who is originally from Valencia and has lived in London for the past 10 years. She joined Depop in 2014 and became the company’s CEO three years ago.

Depop’s success at attracting the youth customer is something of an enigma in a shopping space where more and more brands struggle to get young people on board. Raga believes its success is down to three key elements in the Depop ethos: entrepreneurship, diversity and sustainability.

“We’re solving the problems that our users are telling us about and that they feel the industry is not really solving,” explains Raga at the company’s global HQ in Shoreditch. “The fashion industry has traditionally been very hard to break into; it’s not very approachable. We’re solving [that] by allowing people to build their shops through Depop.”

The diversity strand is all about young people seeking out something different from what’s found in the high street. Raga says they can spot trends on Depop three to four months before they start to pick up on Google. For example, while it used to be streetwear heritage brands such as Champion and Fila that were selling fast, now it’s more likely to be Salomon, the French ski and hiking brand, or Noughties stalwart Ed Hardy.

The app is like a combination of Instagram and eBay
Depop

In future, Depop wants to utilise machine learning to identify these trends and deliver them to their Top Sellers — similar to the YouTube Creators programme — so they can adjust their stock accordingly. (Some Top Sellers are making £100,000 a year from the platform.) “It’s sort of obvious because part of the community are the fore-thinkers, they’re really passionate about fashion so they become trendsetters. And they have a community, a set of followers on Depop, so they can really influence,” explains Raga.

As a resale marketplace, Depop ticks that sustainability box. But it feels it can do more to reduce the fashion industry’s unwanted record of producing 20 per cent of global wastewater and 10 per cent of global carbon emissions. Raga is keen to work with brands on initiatives such as taking their excess fabric and giving it to Depop sellers to work with. The company also helps Top Sellers source biodegradable packaging — no easy feat when you’re selling items out of your bedroom.

“We’re in discussion with some brands. It’s very early days but we’re hopeful that we can help the industry be more sustainable. There are so many opportunities for us to help and we’re just at the beginning of it,” adds Raga.

The social aspect also brings people to the platform. Potential buyers can connect with sellers easily, with Depop users collectively following and messaging each other 85 million times a month — haggling over pricing is a central facet of Depop, according to regular complaints on Twitter. But this appeals to a core tenant of Gen Z — shunning big brands. “The younger generation is more sceptical of big establishments and is more likely to buy from friends or people they like to be influenced by,” says Raga.

Depop isn’t alone in this “social shopping” space. Facebook-owned Instagram is leaning into the idea of social commerce by adding new features such as allowing followers to buy products directly from their favourite influencers’ feeds. Given the fact that Instagram almost crushed Snapchat with the launch of its Stories feature — Instagram Stories now has 500 million daily active users compared to Snapchat’s 191 million — is Depop wary of the effect Instagram could have?

“We believe first of all that the space is very big,” says Raga diplomatically. “We also believe that our focus is around Gen Zs, and Instagram is very broad in terms of audience, age and fashion. For us, we continue to be focused on the younger generation, and that’s always going to be our core.”

So what’s next for Depop? The £50 million recently raised is going to go towards expanding Depop’s footprint in the US, as well as building in more recommendation and image-detection algorithms — a moderation team looks out for items that are fraudulent or counterfeit, while machine learning helps with this too. The company’s marketing and developer teams reside in New York and LA, though the engineering, product and design teams are based here in London.

Though Depop is growing fast in the US, Raga wants to keep the London office as the HQ. “Being in the fashion industry it’s important to be close to Europe. The majority of the brands and most of the creativity are here.”

Raga also hopes the platform will have a bigger role in the fashion ecosystem as it grows, as well as hold more live events — two recent ones included a Hackney market featuring London-based sellers and a series of live talks and events in New York, covering topics such as sustainability in fashion and building a business from your bedroom.

Raga says she had goosebumps listening to some of the speakers. “One of the best comments I received from the live event in New York was this: ‘If I were to picture what Depop would be in real life, this would be it.’”

Depop Dynasty: Meet the top sellers 

Internet Girl: Bella McFadden, 23, is one of the most recognised sellers on the platform, earning a top status in 2018 for her collections of inclusive, Y2K-flavoured clothing.

Oliver’s Archive: Bristol-based Ollie started selling on the platform with a single Tommy Hilfiger fleece and has since grown his profile into a masterful cultivation of designer vintage and streetwear favourites. 

Past Trash: Sister duo Bo and Eve Brearley recently took part in the Depop Hackney pop-up. Visit their profile for top Nineties and early Noughties items and accessories.

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