letgo's Cutting-Edge, Secondhand Marketplace App Launches in Canada

Hugely Popular in Several Countries, letgo Answers Canadians' Call for a Better Way to Buy & Sell Locally

Over 30M Users Have Already Downloaded letgo's Free and Easy-to-Use App in its First Year

New Survey Shows Canadians Have Grown Frustrated with Older Marketplace Apps

TORONTO, Oct. 31, 2016 /CNW/ - letgo, the fastest-growing mobile marketplace to buy and sell locally in the United States, officially launched today in Canada. Already downloaded over 30 million times in the U.S. and other countries in just its first year since launch, letgo's free and easy-to-use app helps users make money selling what they don't need and find great local deals on what they do – from electronics and fashion to furniture, home décor, automobiles and games.

While Canadians have embraced the secondhand economy – 75 per cent have used a secondhand marketplace website or app before – a new, national survey shows Canadians have grown frustrated with older, more complicated marketplace apps currently available. The survey – conducted by MARU-VCR&C and made public today – revealed several key insights. Among those who have used competing secondhand marketplaces in Canada before, 33 per cent feel there is a lack of information about other buyers and sellers; 28 per cent report difficulty finding items for sale nearby; one-quarter can't find what they need; and almost three-quarters say that it's important that a mobile app is simple and easy to use.

"Canadians love buying and selling secondhand, but this new data shows they want an app that makes it easier and more fun," said letgo co-founder Alec Oxenford. "Remarkably, over half of Canadians who buy and sell secondhand online say they'd use a different marketplace if it offered new features and increased simplicity. letgo's innovative technology and streamlined design make it simpler than ever to post an item for sale and browse a huge variety of items for sale in your own neighbourhood at great prices. That's exactly why letgo's gone from just an idea among three friends to one of the most popular and highly-rated apps across the U.S. and other countries in our first year."

With its sleek, intuitive design, letgo offers users an amazingly simple and hassle-free buying and selling experience. Posting something for sale on letgo takes just a few seconds and is as simple as taking a picture with a mobile device. letgo is the only app of its kind in Canada and the U.S. that leverages cutting-edge image recognition and artificial intelligence to auto-title and categorize seller's items for them so they don't have to. letgo users can chat instantly and privately with local buyers and sellers without even needing to leave the app. letgo also integrates geolocation so users can easily browse or search for items available nearby, and they can complete transactions with confidence thanks to letgo user profiles and other features.

Other Key Survey Findings:

• Men who use online secondhand marketplaces spend an average of $636 annually on secondhand goods, nearly three times as much as women, who spend an average of $213 annually.
• Men who use online secondhand marketplaces make an average of $536 selling secondhand goods in a typical year, nearly twice as much as women, who make an average of $281 annually selling secondhand goods.
• 50 per cent of Canadians who buy and sell secondhand online want to be able to easily upload images and post items for sale within seconds.
• 44 per cent of these Canadians would be interested in user ratings of other buyers/sellers.
• At $589 annually, Albertans who use online secondhand marketplaces spend the most each year on secondhand goods, while Quebecers spend the least, with an average of $204.

Canadians can download letgo for Android or iOS devices or visit letgo.com.

About letgo:

letgo's free and highly rated app is the fastest growing mobile marketplace to buy and sell locally. With over 30M downloads, it allows users to make money selling what they don't need and find great deals nearby on what they do. Users can post an item for sale in just seconds thanks to cutting-edge image recognition and proprietary artificial intelligence, which auto-titles and categorizes sellers' listings. Users can easily browse items for sale nearby, chat instantly and privately with local buyers and sellers and complete transactions with confidence thanks to user profiles and other features. letgo was founded in 2015 by Alec Oxenford and Jordi Castello, with co-founder Enrique Linares joining soon after. Oxenford, an expert and accomplished entrepreneur in ecommerce, previously founded and scaled global online classifieds leader OLX (co-founded by Fabrice Grinda), which is installed on hundreds of millions of devices in India, Brazil and other growth markets around the world. On pace to top $13.2B in U.S. transactions alone in its second year and recently named one of 2016's "hottest startups" by Wired, letgo's been featured by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, TechCrunch and others since it launched.

letgo is headquartered in the Netherlands, with offices in New York City and Barcelona. For more information, please visit www.letgo.com and download the letgo app for Android and iOS devices.

SURVEY METHODOLOGY:
From October 3rd to October 4th, 2016 an online survey was conducted among 1,520 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to education, age, gender and region (and in Quebec, language) Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

SOURCE letgo Canada

Image with caption: "letgo is the fastest-growing mobile marketplace to buy and sell locally. This free and easy-to-use app officially launched today in Canada and is available for download on Android and iOS devices. For more information about letgo, please visit www.letgo.com (CNW Group/letgo Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20161031_C1021_PHOTO_EN_804985.jpg

Sarah Stockall, North Strategic, [email protected]