Waste not: Web-facilitated swapping gathers steam

January 16, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO

Last fall, James Reinhart noticed something odd happening at ThredUp, the children’s clothing swap site the Harvard Business School graduate and his pals dreamed up a year ago.

Swappers started using the online exchange to trade toys. As the volume of toy trading increased, ThredUp decided there was enough demand to expand its service. The San Francisco-based startup launched its toy-exchange site Dec. 6, just as holiday shopping went into full gear.

The turn of events at ThredUp signals how dramatically shopping is changing in the wake of the Great Recession. Stung by the global financial crisis, plugged into social media and worried about the future of the environment, consumers are taking matters into their own hands, finding ways to get what they want without cash and without going to the mall.

The pundits have different names for the phenomenon. Community commerce. Secondhand nation. Conscious consuming. Meshing. Whatever the label, a new shopping mind-set has sprouted from the recession where access to goods trumps ownership, and consumers create their own rules.

“There’s been a long-term shift from mindless to mindful consumption,” said John Gerzema, chief insights officer at New York-based ad agency Young & Rubicam and author of the new book, “Spend Shift.” “People are realizing that thrift isn’t a bad word. And we’re very comfortable using social tools. The old way of spending doesn’t have to happen. We can rent it, borrow it, trade it.”

Social innovator Rachel Botsman estimates there are thousands of swap marketplaces springing up around the world for everything from media to makeup. One reason: It feels good to get rid of clutter and know that it’s being put to good use.

“Technology creates the efficiency to match millions of ‘haves’ with millions of ‘wants,’ whatever they may be, as well as the social glue to create trust between strangers,” said Botsman, co-author of “What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption.” “Swapping can provide almost as much choice as traditional shopping.”

ThredUp works like this: A potential buyer browses “boxes” on the site, makes a selection and pays $5 plus shipping per box, typically bringing the total to about $15. Senders list the items in the boxes. ThredUp provides the shipping boxes and labels, as well as scheduling the home pickup.

The company, advised by Netflix Inc. CEO Reed Hastings, claims to save the average family $569 a year and estimated its clothing and toy swaps would save families a combined $500,000 in spending over the holidays. Next year, ThredUp is looking into working with Meetup.com, a network of local groups, to host face-to-face swaps for bigger items such as strollers and children’s skis.

The practice of bartering and sharing goods has been around for centuries. But early 21st-century technology has made it easier to reach more people, a development that is occurring as consumers re-evaluate how they spend.