Company: YoungPlanet
Founders: Jason and Emma Ash
Website: https://www.youngplanet.com/
Business: YoungPlanet is a circular economy platform where parents can exchange children’s toys, books, and equipment.
About Jason, Emma and YoungPlanet
YoungPlanet is a circular economy platform designed to help families declutter, give joy, and save the planet. The app allows users to exchange children’s toys and items for free, and was founded in 2019 by husband and wife duo, Jason and Emma Ash. They were inspired to create the app after a visit to a garage sale, where a seller gave one of their sons a toy truck for free, after seeing how much he enjoyed playing with it.
YoungPlanet provides a free, ‘cashless’ platform based on a sharing economy model. Parents can list or request a range of different children’s items; from books and clothes to toys and baby equipment.
The app incentivises a circular system of sharing; prioritising those who have donated more items in the past, so that parents are motivated to become as sustainable as they can be. To date, the YoungPlanet app has saved over £1,000,000 worth of children’s items and toys from going to landfill, thanks to a community of more than 150,000 users.
The platform recently recorded a 45% increase in app sign-ups during the six weeks of their latest awareness campaign, CirculaTED, which saw an intrepid teddy bear travel the length and breadth of the UK to raise awareness of the circular economy.
Whilst establishing a new business within a two-sided marketplace can be challenging, Jason and Emma focused on integrating their platform into micro-communities across London, initially starting out in Hackney. After gaining valuable consumer insights and refining their business model to operate at a scalable level, Jason and Emma then expanded their business to build a network of second-hand users across the UK. Existing members of the YoungPlanet community also encouraged other parents to embrace this concept, thus allowing user numbers to grow organically, due to trusted reviews.
Since pausing operations at the start of the pandemic, YoungPlanet has quadrupled in size. Increased expenses this year have prompted more families to turn to sustainable and cost-effective methods of shopping, including second-hand alternatives. Jason and Emma are pleased to be able to offer an alternative way of accessing expensive parenting and children’s items, and YoungPlanet is committed to helping families source and share items as sustainably as possible.
Available in every UK postcode, YoungPlanet aims to address the inherent waste and cost of raising children by decluttering modern homes and keeping things out of landfill.
YoungPlanet is committed to reducing both the environmental and financial impact of parenting. Looking towards the future, the platform’s growing partnerships and subscription base will allow it to expand into international markets in the years to come.
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