Re-commerce: How Carousell is making e-commerce a force for good
Why it Matters
As an e-commerce platform, Carousell is driving social causes while staying on-brand to serve users by facilitating re-commerce, supporting the underserved and building community in general.
Takeaways
- What sets Carousell apart is the way it builds community, such as by facilitating delightful micro-interactions between users.
- Doing good does not have to mean creating a new business stream or being divergent from your brand. Use your current platform to empower and drive causes but stick to what makes most sense for your brand’s values and mission
Barely 10 years since its early days as a peer-to-peer classifieds marketplace back in August 2012, Singaporeheadquartered e-commerce startup Carousell has already achieved unicorn status with a valuation of US$1.1bn. Tens of millions of users in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan now use it monthly and for good reason too. E-commerce is set to drive Southeast Asia’s internet economy in the next decade and according to the e- Conomy Southeast Asia 2021 Report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, e-commerce GMV in the region is expected to reach US$234bn by 2025.
However, as Carousell Managing Director Ng Chee Soon observed recently at eTail Asia Summit 2022, this growth comes with many pressing concerns.
“Consumers are recognising that overconsumption is harming the environment,” he said. “Charities are struggling to raise funds. Heartland stores are struggling with digitalisation despite a big push as they lack the means. Many are starting to feel the climate impact of e-commerce.”
Ng shared a few case studies of how e-commerce platforms can drive social causes while staying on brand to serve users:
1. Looking to re-commerce as the future of e-commerce
Fashion and electronics, Ng noted, are two of the largest categories on the Carousell platform. However, they also comprise “some of the most unsustainably consumed products around the region”.
“As e-commerce grows, people end up buying more things and they often end up with things they don’t use much at all,” he said. “But instead of e-commerce’s cycle of buying new and throwing away old, Carousell allows for re-commerce.”
Perhaps it comes as little coincidence that Carousell’s recent acquisitions include secondhand fashion retailer Refash, as well as sneakers and streetwear resale platform Ox Street.
“There is a royal appetite for re-commerce in the region,” said Ng.
Source: Carousell Recommerce Index 2021 report
According to the Carousell Recommerce Index 2021 Report, which drew on a survey of 3,029 users across eight markets (Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam), 72% of respondents have purchased secondhand items before. Of this group, 30% said they only buy secondhand where possible and 21% opt to shop secondhand for environmental reasons.
“Our vision is to make secondhand the first choice,” said Ng. “This shift in consumer behaviour and growing appetite for re-commerce will be crucial for the environment.”
Carousell partnered home furnishings retailer IKEA Singapore to celebrate Earth Day 2022 by launching a popup physical Secondhand Showroom at its Tampines outlet in June 2022, showcasing secondhand furniture from Carousell’s co-founders and influencers in IKEA showroom style.
2. #SupportLocal for communities affected by COVID-19
When the COVID-19 pandemic first reared its head, many were ill-prepared for what was to come.
“During the early days of the pandemic, we quickly developed an umbrella of initiatives for underserved segments to go digital as soon as possible, to reduce the impact on their livelihoods,” said Ng.
These included:
Supporting local F&B establishments
In 2020, Carousell launched the #SupportLocal campaign to rally the Carousell community around supporting small F&B establishments and hawkers in Singapore, as the latter were seeing drastic drops in revenue due to movement restrictions and “no dining in” regulations.
Ng recalled that restaurants were having difficulty with overheads and smaller hawkers couldn’t get a slice of the delivery pie.
“To make sure they could bring their services online, Carousell created a new Local F&B category of free listings, where consumers could buy directly from their favourite local eateries without incurring third party costs for operations.”
Teaming up with Unilever Food Solutions to onboard over 2,500 F&B businesses onto the newly created Local F&B category on the Carousell platform, F&B businesses and hawkers were able to increase visibility of their offerings and provide on-demand takeaway services, despite having no previous experience of online operations.
Supporting creatives with Made in SG
In 2020, Carousell also launched the Made in SG campaign to support creative freelancers in selling their services on the platform, providing them with a complimentary three-month subscription to its suite of business tools and marketing credits to use on the platform.
“We partnered the Singapore Brand Office, the government office that leads the Singapore brand of Passion Made Possible, to launch Made in SG and support freelancers and professionals in the media, arts, design and entertainment industry affected by COVID-19,” said Ng.
The effort resonated well with its community and creative freelancers.
“We overachieved on our goal of 200 signups with 376 applications. We also drove demand to the makers with 39,000 browses.”
Supporting users with affordable contactless delivery
As safe distancing measures and movement restrictions kicked in, arranging to meet up for transactions became prohibitive. Seeing this increased demand for contactless courier and delivery options, Carousell secured discounted delivery rates so users could continue to buy and sell on the platform without feeling the pinch.
“To facilitate this, we partnered with several local delivery service providers like blu, GOGOVan, EasyParcel and Grab Express.”
Supporting SMES with digitalisation and online expansion
Working with Enterprise Singapore through its Productivity Solutions Grant, Carousell also launched an ecommerce booster package for SMEs to go digital and expand their businesses online.
Under this initiative, merchants were able to receive a one-time 90% support by Enterprise Singapore to subscribe to Carousell’s premium business tools for six months, along with other benefits such as marketing credits and analytics reports.
“More than 2,000 merchants have benefited from this scheme.”
Image Source: https://www.carousell.sg/u/blessingscampaign/
3. Rallying the community to do good
As Ng sees it, people are motivated to use Carousell for a number of reasons, including very personal ones such as home decluttering, looking for unique and rare items, and to generate side income from hobbies.
He said that what sets Carousell apart, therefore, is in building community. For instance, Carousell’s in-built platform features and communication tools are deliberately designed to facilitate “delightful micro-interactions” between users. Real user stories are also featured to elicit inspiration for buying and selling on Carousell.
“Sharing these stories inspires change in other users to take action as well,” said Ng. This is different from much of online shopping, which revolves around transactions.
“For more traditional e-commerce platforms, the user experience of selling and buying tends to be check-based.”
Over the years, Carousell users have initiated numerous grassroots initiatives. One of them is the #Blessings movement, with Carousell used as a platform to give away items for free by adding the hashtag #blessings.
In 2020, the #ChooseTo Give initiative was launched to spotlight its community of Carouheroes, as well as to encourage more users to offer excess or under-utilised items free to people in the community, especially amidst these trying times.
Today, the platform works with over 20 charities, including Red Cross, The Salvation Army and Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
“Users can give direct donations on the app, learn more about their causes and donate necessities.”
Ultimately, as Ng concluded, “Doing good does not mean creating a new business stream or being divergent from your brand. You can use your current platform to empower and drive causes.”
His advice?
“Stick to what makes most sense for your brand’s values and mission.”
*This article was written in partnership with WARC, a media partner of eTail Asia