Streamline Possessions, Enhance Life: That's the Operative Principle of Poppins, the Airbnb-esque Hub for Items
The French app Poppins has made a significant impact in promoting a sharing culture and reducing excessive consumption by facilitating peer-to-peer rental of underused household items. Launched with a strong focus on sustainable living, it enables users to rent out or borrow items like power drills, camping gear, kitchen appliances, and party supplies from neighbors rather than purchasing new ones.
Poppins operates as a peer-to-peer rental marketplace, digitizing and professionalizing the practice of sharing. The app incorporates insurance, moderation, and user reputation systems to add trust to the process, ensuring secure transactions and user verification. This makes borrowing items both affordable and convenient. For instance, renting a tent for a weekend trip could cost as little as €10 through the app, compared to €50 for buying new, demonstrating clear financial and environmental benefits for users.
The app has seen rapid adoption in major French urban centers, including Paris, Bordeaux, and Marseille, where storage space is limited and demand for occasional-use items is high. It has attracted thousands of active listings, with popular categories including DIY tools, outdoor equipment, and party supplies. By extending the lifecycle of products and reducing the frequency of new purchases, Poppins contributes to waste reduction and promotes more circular consumption patterns.
Beyond economic and environmental advantages, Poppins also fosters community spirit by encouraging local interaction through geolocation features that help users find items nearby, strengthening neighborhood connections. The app’s founders emphasize its dual role in both economic savings and environmental responsibility, aligning with growing consumer interest in eco-friendly alternatives to ownership.
One-third of the objects owned by an average person in France are never used, according to Lucie Basch, the founder of Poppins. The app differentiates between free loans (65%) and rentals, providing users with the flexibility to choose the best option for their needs.
Poppins gains traction in Europe, with lending banks and physical spaces for renting items appearing in cities like Berlin, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen. Major electronics companies are also adopting rental models, signifying a shift in the ownership paradigm.
Lucie Basch, who previously transformed the world of food waste with her app Too Good To Go, sees Poppins as more than just a second-hand app. It's a movement against everyday waste, promoting the slogan "Own less, live more." The goal of Poppins is to make sharing more popular than buying, potentially revolutionizing the sharing of everyday objects, similar to how Airbnb and BlaBlaCar transformed tourism and transportation.
Experts see Poppins as a rising leader in the sharing economy in France, with potential to expand into other European markets, further amplifying its positive impact on consumption habits and sustainability.
- Poppins, an app promoting sustainable living, has expanded its impact into European cities like Berlin, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen, where it operate as a home-and-garden and lifestyle marketplace, facilitating peer-to-peer rental of underused household items such as power drills, DIY tools, outdoor equipment, and party supplies.
- In alignment with the growing consumer interest in eco-friendly alternatives, Poppins integrates technology by incorporating security features like insurance, moderation, and user reputation systems, making the sharing of everyday objects a viable and trustworthy sustainable-living choice, fostering community spirit and encouraging less ownership and more shared living.
