Inside Whatnot: The Secret $5B Live Shopping Empire

This one is all about the wildly entertaining FOMO inducing $5 billion shopping app you've never heard of.

And according to the friend of the show, Jason Del Rey at Fortune, this app is called Whatnot.

Whatnot is a five year old shopping app that quietly climbed app Store charts as one of the leaders of the growing trend of live stream Commerce in the US and currently ranks inside the top 15 most popular free iPhone apps in the United States.

Live streaming on Whatnot, as we are sure Omnitalk fans are aware, offers a new spin on QV and HSN cable TV shopping channels of yesteryear, marrying some of the auction model and enthusiast appeal of ebay with the camaraderie and communal viewing euphoria of Twitch.

Wow.

Merchants on Whatnot sold a combined $3 billion in goods in 2024, mainly in collectible categories like trading cards and sports cards, but also in fast growing verticals like women's fashion and sneakers too.

The startup, while still unprofitable, is also forecasting more than $6 billion in gross merchandise volume in in 2025.

So doubling the business or like I said, doubling the business in 2024.

And this is also the A and M Put yout on the Spot question.

Okay.

All right, you get this one this week.

All right, here it is.

Video commerce has done very well in China and is starting to get its legs in the US Has Whatnot specifically gained strong momentum because of its focus on collectibles, which keeps it fairly niche?

Or could it be the US Is ready for well executed live video shopping experiences implying this is extendable to big brands and retailers?

I think we're, we're absolutely in the niche and like for the now of video commerce.

I think we're seeing this gain popularity in some of the markets that you talked about.

You know, collectibles.

I.

We're starting to see a ton of like luxury consignment.

Independent retailers starting to spin up video commerce because it gives people that confidence in the purchase.

Like video can that.

No like a single post on, you know, of a picture of a trading card or a picture of a Louis Vuitton handbag.

Like it can't, you can't do the same kind of business when you just have a static image.

So yes, I absolutely think Whatnot's finding success because of the niche markets now.

But what I think about as we think about the future, what A&M's asking about when this hits more mass adoption in the U.S.

i think it what's really important for retailers listening to focus on is what we talked to at Commerce Next yesterday to Sarah Henry at Walmart, head of influencer and content marketing and then also the SVP of E Commerce and digital at cost was talking about how important it is to have these relationships with the content creators, but even more so to make sure that the platforms that these content creators are able to work on are easy for them to use.

It gets them on camera and gets the product in front of people quickly, easily, and, and also allows the customers to shop more easily from these platforms.

That's what I'm focused on here with the popularity of the Whatnot app.

Not so much like it's going to be everywhere and every retailer is going to be having live stream commerce right now.

I think it's more about focusing that energy on how you're building the platform that's right to support you and your customers.

Do you think Whatnot will have success extending this into other categories beyond collectibles?

I, I don't know that I see Whatnot doing that specifically.

I think this is a great platform for them.

I don't know that I see like a major retailer taking on the Whatnot platform though, or conducting business through this.

I think they'll be much more focused on creating it themselves or working with a larger enterprise partner.

What about the influencers though?

Do you think they could tap into the influencers like they're doing the collectibles market to get this into fashion, get this into accessories, shoe wear?

All those things are starting to populate on the app.

Do you think they could do that?

They'll be successful in that over the long run?

I, I think I, I think you'll see retailers trying to do it themselves.

I don't see them.

I really don't see.

I think for a lot of retailers, they're still getting over the hurdle of like quality of content.

And this is like, if you watch these live streams on Whatnot, it's very raw.

It's not very raw.

There's, there's a lot of these independent retailers that are doing this right now.

And I think if I'm a brand and I'm looking at that, I want something that I have a little bit more control over the look, the feel and the functionality of that particular app.

But what, what are your thoughts?

Yeah, I mean, my thoughts are.

Which doesn't necessarily preclude what, not what, not from finding success in that arena.

I think, you know, for me, I look at this kind of as eBay 2.0 in a lot of ways.

And live streaming come to the U.S.

so, you know, I think, yes, the niche market for sure with collectibles is where it starts.

And especially if you go back to the ebay analogy in the late 90s.

But you know, ebay showed that you can go into other businesses too.

And it's funny, I was doom scrolling the other night and I found this clip of Phil Rosenthal, the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond and every.

And somebody feed Phil and somebody feed Phil.

Yes.

And he was talking to Simon Sinek and what he said in terms of one of his big, big lessons from developing content over the years was be as specific as you can be.

Because when you try to be too generic and you try to appeal to the masses, you end up not meeting anyone's needs.

You don't create any nostalgia in their minds.

And I think that is essentially what whatnot is hitting on here is there's a very specific niche across every category of people that are just enthusiastic about the products.

So that makes me actually think that they could have success in the long run continuing to extend this out if they allow it to be organic and natural and authentic to the way it has been with collectibles.

You know, I, you know, this, it's not that dissimilar to, you know, know what's happening on TikTok in a lot of ways, just a different platform.

So, you know, where does this all congeal in the long run?

It's hard to say, but I, I don't see them slowing down really, given those numbers.

Those numbers are crazy too.

The numbers are impressive.

I think, I think it gets back to also like, where are you and where are you heading to the platform?

Like, we're seeing a lot of buzz with this, you know, because it's new and newish and upcoming.

But are people going to download another app or is this stuff going to move to TikTok or, you know, even, or other retailers platforms where they're, they're able to take this content and project them into those social feeds that people are already spending time in.

Like, that's where I think the real hurdle is for me.

And as a brand, I'd be focused on how do I create this content in one place and then distribute it out to places where people already are.

So that's where I think the, the success of, of the live streaming or, or the proliferation of live streaming in the US is going to continue.

But.