In an interview with Fashion United, Nathan McCartney and Danny Quick, the two founders of Galaxy: the first livestream fashion marketplace, talked of the tools of the platform and more.
"Our personal and professional lives have been centered around helping to empower creators to build businesses - we’ve done that with some of the biggest ones in the world," said Quick when asked how the idea of Galaxy came to fruition. "With Galaxy, we’re bringing this to second-hand fashion. We had friends who were selling on Depop and we saw them trying to build a brand on social platforms. It started with us asking ourselves: what would the dream community-based marketplace of second-hand fashion look like? How could we help these entrepreneurs build their community?"
When asked what tools the Galaxy platform uses to create a real user experience, Quick said, "If you show up at a Galaxy live as a viewer, you become part of the conversation. People join the chat by asking questions, they participate in giveaways and this creates a co-created experience where you shape what you see. We’ve found that this direct interaction drives commerce and gives confidence. Galaxy tries to make second-hand fashion more human, so you can buy something online face-to-face with the buyer who tells you why it’s cool and special. We want to get back to a place where things feel less mass produced and impersonal by putting the personality of the creators front and centre. With these livestreams, we help build trust between the creators and their communities."
Nathan McCartney: "For example, every creator that goes live has the ability to tell their audience to RSVP to that event. They enter their phone number and the creator just has to hit the ‘Notify my community’ button that automatically sends a text to everyone with a link to the show, making it seamless to jump in and participate in real time," continued McCartney.
"In second-hand fashion, all the SKUs are one-on-one - they’re coming from thrift shops and for the most part, they’re going online for the first time," said Quick when asked about the advantages of liveshopping and fashion resale. "Each item has one size, one version of it and that scarcity of product drives people to show up in live streams because if you miss it, you miss it. The uniqueness of the products is adapted to live as buyers want more information on them whether it’s the tag, the details or just the story behind them."
"A lot of our sellers are being asked how to style things. How would you put this look together? How would you wear this piece? Many buyers who interact with merchants don’t only want to purchase the clothes, they want styling tips on how to rock them. Not only are the viewers fans of the clothes, they’re fans of the style the seller has. They’re almost personal stylists even if they’re not in the same city or country," concluded McCartney.
Information originally sourced from Fashion United.
