Sharing platform gets happier

Online swapping platform Xiangwushuo, or Happy Sharing, is signing up new partners including China Citic Bank for its digital marketing, the Shanghai-based startup said yesterday.

The online second-hand goods sharing platform has more than 55 million users, mainly women between 18 and 55, and says "several million" items change hands every day.

The most popular items swapped online are books, cosmetics, and maternal and infant care products.

The platform doesn’t use money but a virtual asset – “small red flower” — to use the chain, covering swaps, payment, e-commerce and marketing, said Xiangwushuo's founder and chief executive, Sun Shuo.

In the next stage, the platform will partner with more brands to send out free samples to potential customers as their “new digital marketing channels”. It is also cooperating with Citic Bank on introducing a co-branded credit card.

In the latest round of finance in July, Xiangwushuo raised US$65 million from investors including Sequoia Capital, IDG and GGV.