Poshmark today is launching a new product category, pets, in response to the growing number of ... [+]
Poshmark Inc.’s initial public offering on January 14 was a stunning success, with shares soaring 142% to $101.50 per share at the end of the first day of trading, well above the $42 per share price of the offering, and its initial valuation of $3.5 billion racing past $7 billion. The stock has been trending downward ever since the IPO, settling at around $71 in recent days. Poshmark knows investors demand a steady drumbeat of growth, so the platform today is launching a new product category: pets.
This is the company’s first new classification since beauty and wellness last year joined the lineup, which also includes women’s, men’s, kids and home.
The resale platform said it had been eyeing the pet category for some time. Anecdotal information that Americans were buying and adopting pets in record numbers during the Covid-19 pandemic solidified its plans. One of the other blockbuster public offerings this year is that of pet store chain Petco, which may have also been watching pet ownership explode.
Poshmark said pet adoptions increased 58% during the first week of quarantine, and 85% in the last week of March, adding that 3.2 million pets are adopted each year, and a whopping 67% of the population are now pet-owners.
“The average grew exponentially over the course of 2020 due to a record number of Covid-19-era adoptions,” said Poshmark cofounder and senior vice president of new markets Tracy Sun, adding, “The Poshmark community, following national pet-ownership averages, assumes approximately 21 million pets as family members.
“We’ve already seen a lot of excitement in our search data, which we use to understand buyer intent. There’s a huge population, and we’re not serving their entire family,” Sun said, noting, “Last year, more than 3 million pets were adopted due to Covid-19.”
Pets products on the Poshmark app.
As Poshmark continued to research the pet category, it found encouraging data on spending, such as new cat owners spend $1,000 on products in the first year, while new dog owners shell out $800 for beds, toys, leashes and grooming per year. The average lifetime coast of dog ownership if $15,000.
The Pets classification will include a variety of new and secondhand pet accessories, supplies, toys, and other essentials for dogs, cats, fish, reptiles and other pets.
A key aspect of Poshmark’s new pets business is affordability, Sun said, adding that the assortment will allow owners to be social, sustainable and stylish at once, while saving money with value price points. “We’re excited about merchandise that expresses style, like leashes, dog hoodies and costumes that show the personality of our community.
“As a social commerce platform, we want to enable more engagement between buyers and sellers,” Sun said. “We’ll have some fun content, using the hashtag, #poshpets. Poshmark puts a lot of emphasis on connections and a lot of our events have gone virtual.”
A social media campaign using the #poshpets hashtag launches today, and Poshmark will celebrate International Pet Day this month with its members and sellers with special programming, Sun said.
“We’ve had our heads-down, executing,” Sun added. “Category expansion has been identified by Poshmark as a key growth lever,” Sun said. “We’re focused on building for the long-term and will continue down this path. We’re just getting started with this strategy.”
