Addison van Niekerk
Director of Brand Strategy
Few things excite me more than a high-growth product on the brink of its next big leap. As both a power user of Poshmark and 5&Vine’s Director of Brand Strategy, I see so much potential in the re-commerce app – if only their brand strategy could catch up.
If you’re a Challenger Brand founder or marketing leader not from Poshmark, this matters to you too. Every brand – especially as it scales – hits a moment where things feel off. Your story isn’t landing. Ad copy feels repetitive. Every campaign brainstorm feels like pulling teeth. These are signs of an identity crisis.
And the fix? Understanding exactly who you serve and the role you play in solving their pain points isn’t a nice-to-have – it’s the foundation of a brand strategy that works.
A note before we dive in: Poshmark is not a 5&Vine client. This is purely my outside perspective – but one rooted in years of experience helping Challenger Brands break through.
What Poshmark gets right – and where their brand falls short
For the past five years, I’ve been a dedicated Poshmarker. To me, the app is like a digital Winners – but with a way better selection.
As a shopper, I’ve scored deals like 80% off my backyard wedding dress from Birgitte Herskind and my go-to winter coat from Weekend Max Mara.
As a seller, I’m a “Top-Seller” and “Top-Rated Seller” with over 50 listings sold and $1K+ earned – thanks to a cross-country move that prompted a major downsizing a few years back.
Yet, despite being an ideal customer on both sides, I’ve never seen myself reflected in Poshmark’s brand communications – whether in targeted Instagram ads, display banners, the website, or even their App Store listing. In fact, I often do a better job of “selling” the app to my friends than Poshmark does for itself.
I love Poshmark despite its brand because I’ve looked past their marketing and taken the time to learn how to optimize the app. But that makes me wonder – how many potential ideal customers are they losing because their brand messaging & visuals are a blocker?
In this article, I’ll analyze the identity crisis I believe Poshmark is going through, and outline the strategic brand solution I’d implement if I were in their position. Then, we’ll see that solution in action through a before-and-after comparison, illustrating how clear Personas align brand strategy to a central vision.
First, let’s start with why this matters now.
The state of secondhand fashion
For years, we’ve lived in a “built-to-fail” economy. This model depends on predictable depreciation (and in many cases, parts or workmanship designed to fail) to accommodate frequent release cycles and encourage more consumption. Globally, the fashion industry is the second most polluting industry after the oil and gas sector – with fast fashion as enemy #1.
But out of this has come meaningful pushback – a growing call to reverse that model and extend product quality, not only for our wallets but also for the health of our planet and survival.
In 2023, the US secondhand apparel market grew 11% – that’s 7X faster than the broader retail clothing market. In the same year, the global secondhand apparel market grew 18%. Between 2023 and 2025, The global secondhand apparel market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12%.
Key players in the world of re-commerce platforms include: The Real Real, ThredUP, Grailed, Depop, Vestiaire Collective, Vinted and of course, Poshmark.
If the time to win is now, where is Poshmark stuck?
Poshmark’s identity crisis
There are a few signals that suggest Poshmark is struggling with an identity crisis. In trying to be everything to everyone, they’ve lost a clear, compelling brand point of view.
Here’s what’s holding them back:
- Their positioning is uninspiring – and only speaks to one side of the experience.
- They’re missing the “cool factor” that fashion brands need to win – causing fragmentation.
- Their ad copy is repetitive and underselling their real value.
Let’s break each of these down.
1. A marketplace without a story
Poshmark’s website and app store listing don’t create urgency or excitement around signing up. The brand describes itself as an “online fashion marketplace” – a phrase that works for a pitch deck but lacks personality for the real world.
Beyond the website, the App Store listing is one of their most valuable brand touchpoints. Yet, their four preview slides fall flat:
- Sell: It’s quick, simple & free
- Shop: Fashion, home, electronics & more at up to 70% off
- Connect: Join a community of over 80 million buyers & sellers
- Cash In: Give your wardrobe a new life and make extra $$$
These describe what Poshmark does – but not why it matters or who it’s for.
Even worse, the visuals add confusion. The App Store preview slides showcase men’s Nike sneakers, Beats headphones, and a Gucci wallet – while the website leans into a mid-2010’s Pinterest-style aesthetic with soft, feminine imagery. These contradictions hold the brand back from clearly communicating what the experience is all about and why you should choose Poshmark over other secondhand fashion apps.
For comparison, look at how Depop does it:
✔ A powerful brand story that invites you to join their “preloved fashion” movement.
✔ A clear POV that sets them apart from competitors.
✔ Consistent imagery across all brand touchpoints.
✔ App Store preview slides that feel curated, with messaging designed to drive downloads.
Poshmark, on the other hand, feels scattered – without a clear perspective that makes new users say, I need to be part of this.
- The missing “cool factor” & brand fragmentation
Fashion is an aspirational category – if a brand doesn’t look the part, it won’t feel like a place customers want to shop.
Because of Poshmark’s vague positioning, they struggle to commit to a consistent aesthetic. Their home page hero feels stocky and uninspired – especially compared to their competitors.
The general vibe of competitor brands is immediately clear. Depop is inclusive & approachable, ThredUP & Vestiaire are for scoring designer brands, and Grailed is for edgier fashion-lovers. And Poshmark? We’re unsure.
It appears that Poshmark is aiming to differentiate itself from the competition by implementing a seller-first approach to winning users. Meaning that their end goal is to recruit people to be sellers on the app first, rather than buyers. They’re communicating this visually by featuring real sellers rotating in their hero and tagging their account name. However, their hero title isn’t just about selling to reinforce this strategy – but about buying and selling. They’re also adding to the vagueness by speaking to home decor and beauty – but then having the second hero image be of a sneaker seller. While I applaud the drive to think beyond the norm of winning buyers first, I believe that seller-first is a tactic not a strategy, and I’m left confused as to what Poshmark wants to be known for.
vs.
The confusion extends to paid ads. In the U.S., their Google Search ads seem hyper-focused on pet products. In Canada, you get a mix of electronics, women’s sandals, and random apparel.
It’s all over the place – raising the question:
What is Poshmark actually trying to be?
- Scattered ads underselling their value
Surprisingly, Google Ads aren’t the worst offenders. The real problem is their social media and App Store advertising.
On Instagram and Facebook, Poshmark’s ads seem to pull random listings into carousel formats, with no clear targeting strategy.
On the App Store, their ads are more dynamic but only speak to sellers. And the messaging? Repetitive and leaning into an MLM-adjacent tone:
“Side hustle”
“Earn extra cash”
“Easiest way to make cash”
“Make more money when the workday is over”
“Make money from the comfort of your home”
The ad copy reads verbatim like the ThredUp Resale Report’s reasons why people re-sell apparel. The driver of making extra money may be true – but great copy is able to get to the heart of the underlying motivations in a more interesting way.
These don’t differentiate the brand from resale – or even from gig economy apps. Instead of highlighting why Poshmark is the best secondhand fashion experience, they focus on generic money-making claims.
Put all these elements together, and the result is a brand that lacks clarity and cohesion.
All of this – generic messaging, disjointed visuals, a lack of strategic positioning – points to one root problem: Poshmark doesn’t truly know their customer. And when a brand doesn’t understand its audience, its marketing becomes scattered, unfocused, and ineffective.
The root of Poshmark’s fragmentation is misunderstanding their customer
When a brand lacks a clear identity, it usually points to a deeper issue: they don’t actually know their customer.
Everything we just analyzed – uninspired positioning, scattered brand identity, and weak ad messaging – stems from the root problem: Poshmark doesn’t have a strong grasp on their Personas.
I imagine they have a high-level list of “target audiences” or Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs), but they’re missing Personas – and yes, those are two different things.
If you need a refresher on the difference, I covered it here:
🔗 ICPs & Personas Can Propel Your Challenger Brand Strategy
Personas go deeper. They move beyond demographics and behaviors to capture the emotional, functional, and aspirational needs of a customer. Without this foundation, marketing efforts become broad and disconnected – exactly what we see with Poshmark today.
A well-developed Persona answers three key questions:
- What core problem or challenge does this customer face that we are the antidote for?
- What do they need from the brand – emotionally and functionally?
- What does a typical day in their life look like? When are they at their best, their worst, and what role can our brand play in resolving those tensions?
This is a critical exercise for any brand looking to sharpen its identity and create brand communications that resonate. With well-defined Personas, every team working on Poshmark’s brand – whether in content, design, or performance marketing – would be able to craft communications rooted in customer empathy, rather than vague, one-size-fits-all messaging.
To bring this to life, let’s explore a hypothetical Persona – me. 👋
Hypothetical persona: Addison
Over the years, I’ve had different goals that shaped how I use Poshmark. At different points, I’ve turned to the app to:
- Build a professional wardrobe on a budget
- Find high-quality, discontinued pieces from my favorite brands
- Access high-street brands without paying full price
- Plan ahead for special events, like weddings
- Dipping a toe in trends, like cottagecore
- Maintain a truly circular wardrobe – where I buy, wear, and resell seamlessly
That last goal is especially key. The guilt of throwing away clothes is one of my least favorite feelings. And tossing them into a donation bin – knowing there’s a good chance they’ll end up in the textile landfill visible from space feels just as bad.
I want to be as removed from the fast fashion waste problem as possible. That mindset has shaped my shopping habits:
- 90% of my new-to-me clothes are second-hand – most of them bought through Poshmark.
- I shop passively, not actively – letting Poshmark curate the right pieces for me.
- I set my sizes across categories (shoes, dresses, coats, etc.), follow my favorite brands, and use filters like “My Size” + “My Brands” to create an effortless search experience.
- When I’m looking for something specific – like a wedding guest dress – I set a Saved Search and wait for notifications on new listings.
- I rotate items instead of letting them sit in my closet.
- The process is simple: when someone buys, I pack it up, scan the QR code at the post office, and the label prints automatically.
- Rather than cashing out my sales, I keep my balance in-app – using it to fund future purchases.
- If I do buy something new, I make sure it’s high-quality – knowing future resale value matters.
All of this makes me a high-value, highly engaged customer – but you wouldn’t know that from how Poshmark speaks to people like me.
They’re sitting on an incredible opportunity – to reach customers like me who see second-hand fashion as a lifestyle, not just a side hustle. But their brand communications don’t reflect that.
Now, let’s see what would happen if it did. Before you see this direction, circling back to our earlier discussion about being one-sided – targeting sellers only. I believe this approach ignores the opportunity that users may onboard as buyers and become sellers after a positive buying experience and seeing how easy the process is (that was my experience!).
If I was briefing an Addison Persona driven ad sprint for Poshmark I’d take inspiration from trending-on-social editing styles of videos and pair it with relevant copy connected to a pain point that we help solve. This would become the basis of a creative brief, which can be executed on by the Poshmark team itself or as a UCG brief to influencer partners (which they do many videos in partnership with currently).
Paired with pain-point inspired ad copy:
✅ Build a professional wardrobe on a budget
Professional (but not stuffy) work inspo.
Build your circular wardrobe.
A week in office outfits.
Curate your look with Poshmark.
Spring office inspo for your circular wardrobe.
✅ Plan ahead for special events, like weddings
Bridgeton meets Black Tie” for your 5th summer wedding?
Set a Saved Search & let the perfect look find you.
Skip the mall. Set a Saved Search. Let the perfect look find you.
✅ Dipping a toe in trends.
Bachelorette weekend cottagecore? Dip a toe.
Everything I would Poshmark for Fisherman Core.
Poshmark the trend: Cottagecore
Everything I would Poshmark for Preppy Chic.
Everything I would Poshmark for Cottagecore.
Manifest your Coastal Cowgirl spring.
What I wanted: Coastal Cowgirl
What I got on Poshmark
✅ Find high-quality, discontinued pieces from favorite brands
The good fabrics didn’t disappear. They’re just waiting for you here.
Old school Babaton didn’t disappear. It’s waiting for you here.
Your fav lulus didn’t disappear. They’re waiting for you here.
✅ Access high-street brands without paying full price
The quality you love, at the prices you actually want.
The brands you love, without the retail markup.
Style my new APC bag with me.
✅ Maintain a truly circular wardrobe
Poshmarked vs. Styled.
Style my Poshmark sweater with me.
Wear it. Love it. Resell it. Refresh it. Fashion, full circle.
Wear it. Love it. Resell it. Repeat.
Can you feel the contrast as we start to ideate what kind of brand comms would connect more with this Persona? The inspiration is clear and the ideas start flowing. Suddenly, we’re able to envision campaigns that speak directly to our customers, delivering clear messages and bringing the “cool factor” that our Persona’s are striving to achieve with fashion.
Meeting customers where they are, solving real problems, and reinforcing the brand’s core value. That’s the missing piece for Poshmark. And it’s the missing piece for any Challenger Brand struggling with fragmented marketing.
In closing
In the second-hand fashion space, Poshmark should be leading. The ingredients are there: a strong community, a proven marketplace model, and an app that keeps users engaged. But without clarity on who they’re for and why they matter, they’ll continue to fall short – losing potential customers to brands with a sharper, more compelling identity.
With a Challenger approach to rebuilding their foundation, Poshmark can find its own “cool factor” and create messaging that actually resonates – winning signups and building a base of loyal customers who contribute as both buyers and sellers.
And this doesn’t just apply to Poshmark. Persona development is the foundation of a strong, integrated brand strategy. When brands deeply understand their customers, they don’t just refine their messaging – they unlock a competitive advantage. Personas help brands:
✔ Prioritize which customers matter most
✔ Define how to deliver for them in a way that builds loyalty
✔ Align every brand touchpoint – from the website to paid ads – to real customer pain points
If you’re a Challenger Brand struggling with fragmented marketing, take a step back. The solution isn’t just better copy or creative. It starts with understanding who you’re for – on a deeper level. Personas are key to clarity, cohesion, and ultimately, winning.
