January 21, 2008

Apparel Sale :: Swango.com Makes Swapping Fun, Easy, and Affordable!

Apparel Sale :: Swango.com

Back in October, we talked about how clothing swap sites were getting popular and how, soon enough, they would change the way shoppers got their hands on brand-name clothes. Soon after, Swango.com stepped on the scene and I dare say, this might be the best clothes swapping site yet.

The premise is simple and there is nothing for sale here, unlike some of the sites competitors that we talked about earlier. You upload your clothes, and assign a "credit" value to them. The first ten items you upload, you get one free credit for each. Each item is assessed a $0.99 transaction fee (of which a percentage goes to the charity Dignity U Wear), and shipping is split between the buyer and the seller! When someone buys one of your items, their credits transfer to you.

Love Abercrombie? Get this red shirt for just 2 credits, the $0.99 transaction fee, and $2.00 shipping. The site is so easy to use, it's unbelievable. Not just that, but they're constantly making changes to make it more user-friendly. I was lucky enough to chat with Matt Poulton, Marketing Lead for Swango.com about the site, what's good, what's changing, and in the future. Here's what he had to say.

Q: Who created the site and why?

A: We’ve always loved to swap clothes with friends and family and to find incredible bargains. We were shocked when we discovered that there wasn’t a single user-friendly online clothing swap site. We built Swango to enable the fast and growing trend of clothes swapping to have a permanent home on the web. We use a shopping cart system so you can shop for clothes you like, add as many items to your cart as you want, and checkout just one time using PayPal. Our moms even use the site, which really tells you how easy it is to use!!

Q: Why the name SWANGO?

A: Excellent question. A good name can be the most elusive part of staring a new business. We wanted a catchy name that was easy to pronounce, remember, and spell. Everybody seems to love the name and we think it has great branding potential. Swango is something to get excited about, so we hope the name will help convey that message.

Q: How did you choose Dignity U Wear as your charity of choice?

A: Swapping clothes is all about participating in a co-op environment where all parties involved benefit. Not only is it a fun way to get new stuff, but it is also an exciting way to give to others. We wanted our members to know that by participating on Swango, a percentage of the transaction fee would allow them to give to those in need and would go towards a charitable cause. We thought it was an excellent fit to associate with a charity that dealt with providing apparel to those who were in need. Dignity U Wear has clothed over 260,000 children and families in need and has spent over $44.8 million buying new clothing for those who have lost everything.

Q: OK, let's get down to business. After the first 10 "free" credits, do you continue to earn credits for uploading? Or only when someone takes your stuff?

A: Swango gives all new members 1 free credit for each of their first 10 in-demand item uploads. Thus, members are given a jump-start and can order items from other Swango members on the very same day they join. We want our members to see how easy and fun it is to swap items from the first day of their Swango experience. After new members receive the 10 free credits for uploading items to the site, they have to sell their items in order to earn more credits. Our members quickly learn they need to upload in-demand, fashionable items in order to enjoy the benefit of finding great, brand name clothing at such a low cost.

Q: The women's category has far more products than any other; in fact, even the baby section has more clothes than the men's; what are you doing to promote the site to men?

A: As was expected, women enjoy sharing their clothes with each other more than men. From the inception of the idea to develop Swango, all our research showed women would be more likely to use the site than men. Hence, the reason why Swango has a much more feminine design. Although our target audience remains largely female, our business strategy is to reach men through their female companions and wives by providing an incredible inventory of business casual and formal wear for the working man. Visible evidence of this trend will unfold in the near future.

Q: Also, I noticed that there are juniors' items mixed in with women's clothing, even though there is a separate category for juniors'. Is there a tutorial for people that don't realize odd numbers are juniors and even numbers are women's?

A: This is precisely the reason why we created the Fashion Police flagging system. Our members will help direct us to the items that need to be placed in other categories. They have been very pro-active so far and we expect the trend to continue. Once an item has been flagged for review, our reviewers check out the situation and appropriate actions are taken to make sure the inventory on the site is fashionable, up-to-date, and displayed in the correct categories.

Q: I laughed when I read about the Fashion Police. I love the name! I like the idea of using members to make sure the items are correctly described. Yet, I am surprised about the restriction items that are “no longer in style”. You write that it means two seasons back. Yet, is it not a lot subjective?

A: It’s definitely tricky. Most members have uploaded great quality clothing, but we’ve had instances where people tried to upload junk. To protect the members who take the site seriously, we actually review each item people post prior to giving them upload credits. This has worked out really well and has allowed us to reinforce Swango’s goal to have high quality, brand name clothing. Users have been really responsive as well, flagging items that they feel are either out of style or not high enough quality. This is a dynamic environment and we expect to see it evolve for the better over the coming years.

Q: I like the fact that you have limited the range of credit “prices”, from .5 to 6. Yet, your credits are just like any kind of currency, they surely tend to rise. How do you keep credit inflation from creeping into your system?

A: Actually, the credits are only there to prevent people from hoarding; the clothing itself is the currency. In other words, you’re spending your clothing to get new clothes. Real-life clothing swaps work on the premise that everybody brings a bag of clothing to swap with everybody else. The credit system is our way of ensuring that in order to get clothing you have to participate by uploading clothing that others will want. We limit it to 6 credits so that it won’t imitate a monetary system.

Q: I also really liked that fact that you do a lot to prevent negative customer experience: Fashion Police, capped “prices”, capped shipping costs, customer service, possibility to get credit back if anything happens. This is great for users : at most, I risk losing, say, $4 on a nice fashion item. Much less risky than eBay. Do you agree that this is a strength of your system?

A: Absolutely. Furthermore, even if you get something you don’t like, you can throw it back up on Swango. Most likely somebody else will dig it and you’ll be able to pass it along to another member. We get feedback from members quite often telling us how much they love the items they are getting. We too have had a fabulous experience with the clothes that we’ve bought from other members.

Q: Let's talk about network effects for a second. My guess is that you would like to grow your member base as much as possible; is the referral program a way to do so? What other things do you do to increase your base? Advertising? PR?

A: The referral program is a great way to spread the word about Swango. It is simple to use and allows you to blast off multiple emails to your friends in one simple step. Our marketing folks are also working on advertising campaigns inside of Facebook, with NPR radio stations in larger cities, and on popular websites that have high volumes of traffic in our target markets. Our biggest hurdle growing the inventory to a large enough level that everybody who comes to the site finds something they want. At our current growth rate, we are confident that we will become the de facto site for online clothes swapping.

Q: Finally, you seem to put a bigger emphasis on recycling than on saving money. Is it because it sounds better to be environmentally-conscious than thrifty, in terms of marketing the site to potential members? Why not also go after people who are stylish and want to save money?

A: Excellent observation. Although an initial effort was made to create awareness among the environmentally-conscious crowd, we are actively promoting Swango to the environmentally-conscious crowd and the fashion and clothing lovers, as well as those who are into thrift shopping and always finding the best deals. On a daily basis, we are working with all these groups to get the word out and help people realize there is an amazing resource out there to find high quality, brand name clothing without having to purchase new from the store every time you shop. We use Swango ourselves quite regularly and still get giddy when the packages arrive in the mail.

Filed under Apparel Sale, Fashion News, Fashion Sites, Online Retail by Fashion-Fox