Depop, an app at the forefront of social shopping, was where Shirley Tang began selling her handmade clothing in 2020.
Ms. Tang started selling hand-draped mesh and woven tops and skirts for $100 to $200 in her Depop shop. Customers, most of them around her age, traded messages and commentary on the app about her creations as her store caught the attention of magazines. Her business increased in size.
Ms. Tang started selling her clothing brand on her website. She said that Depop had led to her making the same items again and again. She was fed up with the app charging a commission on every sale.
Even if it meant losing out on a few new people who were going to be organically finding my pieces on Depop, I wanted that independent establishment. That was a good sacrifice to me.
Fanc Club, whose corsets have been worn by celebrities such asOlivia Rodrigo, has moved to the runways of New York Fashion Week because of Depop. Depop turned into a go-to fashion marketplace for teenage and 20-something shoppers because of its interface, which allowed people to post and caption photos, follow and message one another, and discovercurated items.
Depop is similar to other online shopping businesses that have boomed over the past two years. Dozens of the creators it helped establish, such as Ms. Tang, have started taking the brands they built through the app to other platforms.
It's difficult for Depop to hold onto a young audience. It's important to have the most sought-after designers in order to retain users and grow their number. Older shoppers are more loyal to brands and platforms than younger shoppers.
The scale of Depop's business has been driven by the Pandemic, according to the chief brand officer at the company. He said that the question regarding the app's users has become, "How do we remain interesting and present to them so they continue to be part of the Depop Ecosystem?"
Mr. Semple said that sellers leaving Depop was not new and that their success inspired new designers to join the app. He said that Emma Rogue turned her Depop shop into a vintage store. He said that they need to be more interesting for the next group of people.
The company said it had 30 million registered users last year. The majority of its users are under the age of 26. Its revenue more than doubled from a year ago. More recent figures were not shared by the app and the financial information wasn't disclosed by the company.
Simon Beckerman founded Depop in order to allow anyone to sell anything. He isn't involved with the app anymore. It soon built a reputation for selling used clothing, with influential people like the Italian fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni letting their followers into their closets. Depop was benefiting from Gen Z coming online and was building its platform to be more interactive.
Depop discouraged sellers from selling items other than clothing. Since then, the app has become ingrained in Gen Z culture, with the likes of Megan Thee Stallion and Winnie Harlow. A woman who resells clothing from thrift stores on Depop and runs a stand-alone company became a social media celebrity.
The app doubled its users and revenue in a year, thanks to the increased use of online shopping destinations. To set up shop on the app, sellers need to give their date of birth, billing address and account information.
Some Depop sellers started looking to grow their businesses outside of the app. Lopez said she couldn't connect with her customers at her Depop shop. She joined the photo sharing website last year.
Ms. Lopez said that most of her interactions with customers were about buying something. She said that she could share more personal moments from her life through features like Stories, which people use to post photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours.
Ms. Lopez spends more time on Depop, where she has 30,000 followers, than she does on the photo sharing site. Her best-selling item, a $58 mesh halter top with embroidered flowers, went viral on Depop this year, winning her praise from customers in comments and reviews.
Designers in Gen Z are not spending as much time at their store. Last year, after sales for her Depop shop, Conscious Brat, sagged, Desiree Zavala branched out to the social media platform. The shop is named after the dolls.
Ms. Zavala said she preferred the photo sharing site, where she could ask customers for feedback, show off outfits and tease new items. She said she couldn't talk to customers that way.
It doesn't feel like social media to her because she doesn't feel like she can connect with anyone there.
Ms. Zavala has a following on both social media. The majority of her sales come from Depop. She recently posted a photo of a red-and-black lace camisole, captioned "h OT GOTH SUM ME", earning about 3,000 likes on her social media accounts.
A person commented on the post and said that they would kill in it.
The friend said he wanted it.
Rhi Dancey, a clothing designer in London, is concentrating on her own online store. She started her business on Depop in March 2020 after being out of work for a long time. She has 50,000 followers on the photo sharing site.
She established her own website by the late 2020s. She gets one order on Depop for every 10 orders she sells on her website.
Ms. Dancey said she was building her brand beyond Depop through in-person events as the Pandemic Restrictions have loosened. She collaborated with other artists and designers on a pop-up store.
The Depop shop is something Ms. Dancey still has. There needs to be some rethinking of how to do things now that the world is changing.
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