Swapit has just gotten some great coverage by the local Hong Kong magazine Mingpao Weekly. The whole article is in Chinese, but we’ve got our own English translation for you:
Pairing/Matching Users, Trade/Exchange Conveniently
Alex wants to achieve (economic autonomy/economic independence) with (internet/internet platforms). Patrick Kosiol, a German residing in Hong Kong, target the uniqueness of Hong Kong’s dense population. Developed a mobile app Swapit.la, using GPS to (locate/connect) users in different areas to find items nearby, reducing the time to close the deal.
Patrick is a software developer, when he became a father last year, he realised baby items on the market are expensive, but kids grow up so fast, the items won’t be needed a year later. But searching on second hand or swapping items groups and forums often find out the location is far after some exchange in messages, making exchanging/closing the deal difficult and annoying. So he started developing Swapit.la, using user’s device and preset locations to show nearby items posted. Allowing users to set both home and work locations to increase their posted items exposure, the in app chat messenger also has snippets with basic exchanging phrases to reduce typing time, very detailed designed.
“Hong Kong is very densely populated, people are always exchanging items or making second hand deals at the MTR stations, a lot of people want to get rid of their stuff, so this is very convenient. If this is Germany, it’s hard to make it work because the population is spread out.” said Patrick. Tailor made for Hong Kong, that is why the name of the app also contains the culture of local language.
Inquiry: swapit.la
If you’re interested in reading the full article in Chinese, you can find on the Mingpao website: 斷捨離 清空生活
(click “羣組分享 交換平台” on the right side and then “1” at the bottom)
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