SwapU is on a mission to make swapping goods quick and easy.
Spurred on by their mission to put an end to the amount of waste people throw away, they are succeeding with their marketplace that lets people swap the stuff they don’t need.
Founded in April 2019 by Nicholas Robertson and Jordan Piggott, SwapU ia an easy-to-use app that facilitates the entire swapping experience, from listing the item and finding the perfect swap to connecting the swappers and arranging delivery.
SwapU was inspired by the story of Stone Soup.
“Essentially, a traveller teaches a town that is starving to share. They learn that when they come together and share they can feast but when they don’t, they starve. I believe that sharing and swapping are very similar. It is about looking at distributing goods in a different way and using different mediums to ascertain value. Ownership evolved,” Nicholas says.
However, he says most people find swapping difficult and the biggest challenge the SwapU team faces is in trying to change behaviours.
“We want people to look at value differently,” Nicholas says.
“Firstly, it is not easy to find a person who wants what you have and who has what you want. Secondly, working out value for second-hand goods is difficult and working out if someone’s chair is worth the same in a swap as another person’s chair is harder still.
“And finally, one of the biggest issues that people have with selling second-hand items from their home is having strangers come to their homes, and waiting for strangers to arrive.
“At the moment countless items with millions of dollars in value lie unused because of these reasons.”
The company is also competing with Facebook and Marketplace so they need to differentiate to cut through the noise.
But Nicholas says there have been plenty of highlights in developing the business.
“Notably connecting with the circular economy community in Brisbane and working within the wonderfully giving startup ecosystem in Brisbane,” he says.
“Our partnership with Sendle is our biggest highlight so far, meaning our customers can swap and then have their items delivered within the day by Australia’s only carbon neutral delivery service that is also on average 40% cheaper than its competitors.”
They are also working alongside Planet Ark to promote The Big Aussie Swap in November, during National Recycling week.
“As well as this we are in discussions to work alongside The Logan City Council to promote swapping as a part of their waste diversion, and recycling and reuse programs,” Nicholas says.
So far, SwapU has been entirely bootstrapped. With a small team of four, the SwapU team are true believers in swapping, the money that it can save and the waste that they can divert by making swapping more accessible.
“If we were to obtain funding it would be spent on advertising and marketing primarily to increase users. We would like to hold more events and to assist the swapping process further, and build the swapping community more as well. SwapU aims to promote the benefits of swapping.
“At the moment we have a freemium model on the App store and Google Play. Soon we'll be adding a premium version that is pay per use. It will revolutionise swapping and how we swap.
“I can’t give away too much yet but watch this space.”
