Industry E-commerce Founded 1 May 2012 Type of business Private | Number of employees 23 | |
 | ||
Headquarters 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent, Queenstown, Singapore Area served Southeast Asia, Taiwan, United States Key people Quek Siu Rui, Lucas Ngoo, Marcus Tan Founders Quek Siu Rui, Marcus Tan, Lucas Ngoo Profiles | ||
Carousell (旋轉拍賣) is a mobile and online consumer to consumer marketplace for buying and selling new and secondhand goods. It is headquartered in Singapore. Carousell operates within countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and the United States. Carousell is currently available as a mobile app for both Apple and Android devices.
Contents
History
Carousell was founded in Singapore on May 1, 2012, by co-founders Quek Siu Rui, Lucas Ngoo, and Marcus Tan. The first item sold on Carousell was an Amazon Kindle e-reader for S$75.
In November 2013, Rakuten, with follow-on investments by Golden Gate Ventures, 500 Startups, and a few other investors invested $1 million in Carousell. Subsequently, in November 2014, Carousell announced that it received US$6 million in investment from Sequoia India.
As of November 2014, over 2 million items had been sold on Carousell and users had created over 8 million listings of new and used items for sale.
Carousell has expanded regionally to three countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Taiwan. However, Carousell's expansion into Taiwan faces competition against headstart companies like Yahoo! and Ruten, which are already settled in the e-commerce market.
Partnerships and collaborations
In January 2013, Singapore Press Holdings' ST Classifieds announced its collaboration with Carousell.
According to a Yahoo Finance article in August 2013, Carousell announced its partnership with Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) Magazines, a subsidiary of SPH, to create a mobile app called SheShops Marketplace, selling fashion and beauty items.
Operation
Carousell is an online mobile platform for consumers to buy or sell items. It lists and sells a variety of products. Items are prohibited for sale on Carousell if it is illegal and violates the marketplace's community guidelines.
Criticism
In a Yahoo Tumblr page, images of users posting photos or screenshots of their bad experiences they encounter on Carousell relating to scam, fraud and harassment have circulated on social media platforms like Facebook and Tumblr. Users of Carousell have also complained about cases of scams by fake sellers.