Quality Evaluation and Optimization of Idle Goods Swap Platform Based on Grounded Theory and Importance–Performance Analysis

Abstract

Given economic downturns and environmental concerns, promoting innovative consumption patterns is urgently needed. Swap is a promising collaborative consumption pattern that redistributes ownership of goods without using money. In the past, no research has focused on swap platform quality due to a lack of empirical resources. Therefore, this study aims to construct theoretical methods for evaluating and optimizing the quality of swap platforms. Analyzing consumer characteristics and motivations, the study creates a user profile that guides swap platforms’ market positioning. Then a quality evaluation model for swap platforms is constructed to identify areas for improvement. Data were collected from core users of a start-up swap platform in Shanghai, including 20 in-depth interviews and 180 survey questionnaires. The findings reveal that the main consumers in Shanghai’s swap market are highly educated women aged 20 to 40, with upper-middle incomes. They are motivated by functional, charitable, economic, and hedonic factors. Using grounded theory and the IPA method, this study developed a quality evaluation model for swap platforms, consisting of 18 indicators that clearly distinguish areas of weakness and strengths. This study provides valuable insights into the methodological research of quality evaluation for swap platforms and offers practical suggestions for their optimization.

1. Introduction

In recent years, with increasing concern over environmental issues, consumers have become more aware of the negative impacts of overproduction and overconsumption on both the environment and their personal lives. At the same time, with the slowing pace of economic growth, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are making more rational purchasing decisions. In this context, new forms of consumption, such as resale, rental, and swap, have gained attention as sustainable alternatives to traditional consumption patterns [1]. These practices fall under the umbrella of collaborative consumption, which refers to the socio-economic activity of sharing, borrowing, or swapping personal assets (including space, goods, time, and skills) with the aim of maximizing the use of underutilized or unwanted goods [2]. By sharing resources, collaborative consumption reduces the need for purchasing new products, encourages the reuse of existing goods, and extends their lifecycle, thereby addressing both economic downturns and pollution challenges [3,4]. Collaborative consumption also aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (2015), specifically Goal 12, Responsible Consumption and Production [5], which calls for reducing our ecological footprint through new patterns of production and consumption.

Swap refers to the redistribution of ownership of goods without the involvement of currency—in simple terms, exchanging items for other items [6,7]. Before the advent of money, swap was a common practice globally for a long period. In today’s commercial environment, swapping idle goods has become a niche form of collaborative consumption. Unlike reselling, which has developed into a fully structured industry, swap is still in its early stages. Nevertheless, swap holds significant potential as a collaborative consumption pattern. It allows participants to dispose of and acquire goods simultaneously, offering a two-fold benefit for participants and extending the traditional consumption cycle of products [4,8]. Since it does not require monetary involvement and balances the interests of both parties in collaboration, participants face fewer financial concerns, lowering the barrier to participation and facilitating the circulation of goods [9,10].

Currently, most swaps occur offline, taking place in settings like markets or designated swap corners in stores. At the same time, many participants also engage in swaps informally through online chat groups and other digital channels. Swaps can be categorized into two types: C2C (consumer-to-consumer) and C2B2C (consumer-to-business-to-consumer). In the C2C type, participants swap directly one-to-one, reaching mutual agreements without external supervision. In the C2B2C type, goods are placed in a ‘pool’ designed by a platform, from which they are redistributed to others. This type of swap is usually not one-to-one and typically requires external supervision to function smoothly. Overall, swap remains a small-scale and somewhat primitive form.

In the field of collaborative consumption research, swap, as one of the core concepts, has always held a significant place. However, existing studies tend to discuss various collaborative consumption patterns collectively, while studies focusing solely on swap are relatively scarce. This may be because collaborative consumption is still an emerging research area, and although the volume of research is growing, it remains largely exploratory and fragmented. Additionally, there is a lack of empirical research resources for swap, with most existing studies relying on qualitative or conceptual approaches [11]. Geographically, research has been concentrated in Europe and North America. Given that economic and cultural contexts can influence participation in collaborative consumption [6,12], it is essential to expand research into less-explored regions. Furthermore, most studies have focused solely on clothing as the primary category of goods, even though a wide range of goods are now being traded in swap markets. Overall, despite its limitations, current research has provided initial insights into the theoretical framework and practical applications of swap.

In the early stages of conceptual research, scholars explored consumers’ attitudes toward swap, their intentions to participate in swap, and the factors that influence this participation, shedding light on the characteristics of those involved in swap. Although consumers generally exhibit positive attitudes and willingness to engage in swap [3,13,14], a key issue identified in research is the gap between consumers’ attitudes or intentions and their actual participation behavior [3,15]. This gap can be attributed to a lack of external conditions, particularly in the usefulness and ease of use of swap platforms [16]. As for the factors influencing attitudes or intentions, there has been extensive discussion in the academic community, with a focus on subjective factors of consumers, such as values [17], personality characteristics [16,18,19,20], and consumption preferences [21,22]. Additionally, goods-related factors, such as perceived value [9] and usage history [23], have also been examined.

As swap has become more widespread, academic research has gained access to empirical resources, enabling scholars to focus on the more concrete topic of participation motivation in order to identify consumers’ needs in swap. From existing research, participation motivation can be summarized into four categories: functional, economic, hedonic, and charitable motivations. Functional motivation refers to motivations related to the transfer of ownership of goods, where participants achieve the outflow and inflow of goods through swap [24,25]. Economic motivation involves motivations related to generating economic value, where participants reduce spending and gain additional benefits through swap [3,25,26,27]. Hedonic motivation refers to motivations related to fulfilling social and entertainment needs, where participants socialize and have fun through swap [3,4,24,25,26,27,28]. Charitable motivation involves motivations related to altruism and contribution, where participants help others and support environmental causes through swap [3,4,25,26,27,29,30].

Extensive research has already provided insights into the characteristics and needs of swap participants, offering guidance for the development of swap platforms and the design of their products and services. However, studies specifically focused on swap platforms remain rare, with most concentrating on business model analyses based on conceptual frameworks, qualitative research, or experimental case studies [14,31]. There is no systematic research to evaluate platform quality. As swap platforms continue to develop, they offer opportunities for further research. These platforms are still relatively young and have considerable room for improvement in areas such as business and operations. It is necessary to systematically analyze the factors influencing platform quality and to develop evaluation methods that can improve user experience and foster business innovation.

This study, therefore, investigates consumer needs and methods for evaluating the quality of swap platforms based on a survey of early participants in a start-up swap platform in Shanghai to expand research on swap in China and fill the gap in platform quality research. This platform provides both C2C and C2B2C swap services, with most of its activities conducted offline through a swap market, although it also has online social media accounts and communities. This study seeks to answer three key questions:

Question 1: What are the characteristics of swap participants?

Question 2: What are the motivations for participating in swaps?

Question 3: How can the quality of a swap platform be evaluated (including constructing a quality evaluation indicator system and building an evaluation model)?

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Procedure

This study adopts a mixed-methods approach, divided into two phases: qualitative and quantitative. As shown in Figure 1, there are a total of six procedures involved: in-depth interviews, qualitative data analysis, questionnaire development, questionnaire data collection, quantitative data analysis and, finally, discussions. For each research question, we first identified key concepts in the qualitative phase, constructed a conceptual framework, and then quantified the relationships within or between concepts in the quantitative phase, thereby gaining a comprehensive understanding of the question [32]. For question 2, during the qualitative analysis phase, a thematic analysis was conducted through initial coding within the existing research framework, which was then expanded to further develop the framework for question 2. For question 3, during the qualitative analysis phase, a quality evaluation indicator system for swap platforms was developed using step-by-step coding in grounded theory. Based on this indicator system, a five-point Likert scale was developed to measure the importance and satisfaction dimensions [33]. In the quantitative analysis phase, the grouping of factors within the IPA quadrants was discussed to determine the positioning of each factor.

2.2. Materials and Data Collection

2.2.1. Interview Design

Based on the level of control the researcher has over the interview structure, interviews can be categorized as structured, semi-structured, and unstructured [34]. Since question 2 is relatively abstract and question 3 is quite broad, directly asking related questions during interviews may not yield comprehensive results. Therefore, this study employed semi-structured interviews, allowing respondents to share their experiences, stories, and perspectives on swap. This approach helped guide respondents to discuss topics relevant to the research questions, thereby gathering the necessary information. Specifically, before the interviews, guidelines were created, which served primarily as a prompt during the interviews. The interviewer encouraged participants to ask their own questions and adjusted the structure and content of the interviews flexibly according to the flow of conversation. The interview guidelines were divided into four main sections: consumer behavior habits, experiences and insights of participating in swap, motivations and needs for participating in swap, and feedback on their experience with swap platforms.

2.2.2. Questionnaire Development

The questionnaire consisted of three parts:

Part 1, basic information and participation behavior, including gender, age, education level, income, and their involvement in swap.

Part 2, motivations for participating in swap, which were categorized into four types based on thematic analysis: functional, charitable, economic, and hedonic motivations, with a total of eight motivations. To reduce the complexity of the survey and leave space for the platform quality evaluation scale, this section was designed as a simple multiple-choice question.

Part 3, assessment of the quality of swap platform. Using the framework derived from grounded theory coding, the factors influencing platform quality were divided into three categories: content factors, system factors, and service factors. Eighteen concepts were translated into evaluation indicators. Each indicator was rated on two dimensions—importance and satisfaction, where satisfaction represents the performance of the indicator. A five-point Likert scale was used to score this, in which 1 indicated “very unimportant/unsatisfied” and 5 indicated “very important/satisfied”. The content validity of the questionnaire was verified by five experts using the item objective congruence index (IOC) [35], ensuring that questions with IOC values above 0.50 were considered. The IOC values of the questions in the survey ranged from 0.6 to 1.0, indicating good validity for the questionnaire.

2.2.3. Participants and Data Collection

During the interview phase, by conducting on-site observations during various activities on different swap platforms, as well as observing and interacting within the online communities of these platforms, we identified active and experienced participants in the swap market. From these participants, 20 respondents with diverse ages, occupations, personalities, and interests were interviewed to gather their experiences and perspectives on swap. The interviews were conducted one-on-one, either through video calls or face-to-face in quiet, private environments to ensure the quality of the conversation. Each interview lasted about 30 min, and the entire process was recorded. The recordings were transcribed afterward. The sample size was determined based on Hennink’s recommendation for achieving “meaning saturation” in in-depth interviews, which is between 16 and 24 participants [36]. Saturation testing was also performed during coding. After coding the 14th sample, no new codes appeared, which indicates that the samples had reached coding saturation. Coding saturation ensures that there are sufficient data from the research samples, while meaning saturation guarantees that the information within the research topic has been fully understood.

During the questionnaire survey phase, participants were invited to complete the questionnaire at offline swap markets and online communities organized by a large, emerging swap platform in Shanghai, ensuring that all respondents had prior swap experience. Offline, due to the high mobility of participants, a convenience sampling method was used to distribute the questionnaires. Online, systematic sampling was conducted by coding members in the communities according to their sequence. The collection of questionnaires was carried out using an online survey app called Surveystar (2024 version). After approximately two weeks of data collection, 203 questionnaires were received. After eliminating responses that were submitted too quickly, had duplicate IP addresses, or contained uniform answers, a total of 180 valid responses remained. Respondent information is presented in subsequent analysis. Cronbach’s α was used to test the reliability of the data, with the two scales achieving Cronbach’s α values of 0.829 and 0.873, indicating a high level of reliability [37].

2.3. Analysis Methods

2.3.1. Grounded Theory

Grounded theory, proposed by Glaser and Strauss in 1967 is a qualitative research method that systematically collects data and induces a theory from the bottom up for a specific phenomenon [38]. This method is well suited for constructing evaluation indicators of swap platform quality because there are currently no direct hypotheses regarding this issue. The factors influencing platform quality are complex and require systematic induction to form a complete framework. The coding method used in grounded theory makes this process clear and structured. Specifically, this study utilized three stages of grounded theory: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding.

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Open Coding

Open coding is a method of organizing, classifying, summarizing, and refining the collected textual content. During open coding, the initial step involves conceptualizing the raw interview data by summarizing core terms from the text and coding sentences one by one. Next, new content is repeatedly compared with previously coded content, gradually refining the concepts to their most concise form.

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Axial Coding

Axial coding involves grouping independent concepts according to their potential relationships, categorizing them into broader themes. The key task is to discover and establish various connections between concepts, such as contextual and causal relationships, thereby forming categories. During coding, each category is analyzed in depth, focusing on related relationships within a single ‘axis’. Once each group of concept categories is established, primary and secondary categories are distinguished.

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Selective Coding

Selective coding involves selecting the core category from the existing axial categories and connecting the categories through defined summaries and conceptual links. By outlining the relationships between the primary and secondary categories, a complete ‘storyline’ is constructed.

The coding process was conducted using NVivo 11 software. To avoid subjectivity in the coding process, two researchers independently performed the coding. After the coding was completed, an additional researcher was brought in for discussion and revisions, leading to the final set of codes.

2.3.2. Importance–Performance Analysis

Importance–performance analysis (IPA), was first introduced by Martilla and James in 1977 [39]. Since the early 1990s, it has been widely applied in service industries, particularly in studies on destination image, tourist satisfaction, and service quality. This method is particularly suitable for evaluating the quality of swap platforms by measuring user expectations against actual satisfaction to identify areas for improvement, optimize resource allocation, and enhance user satisfaction. IPA requires respondents to evaluate various measurement indicators of a specified subject from the perspectives of importance and performance. The evaluation scores are then used to establish a coordinate system. Performance scores serve as the x-axis, and importance scores serve as the y-axis. The average values of importance and performance scores form the intersection of the two axes, dividing the coordinate system into four quadrants, as shown in Figure 2. The four quadrants represent the following:

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“Concentrate here” (high importance, low performance): The platform should focus on improving these areas.

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“Keep up the good work” (high importance, high performance): The platform should continue its current efforts in these areas.

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“Low priority” (low importance, low performance): The platform should allocate some effort to improve these areas gradually.

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“Possible overkill” (low importance, high performance): The platform may have over-invested in these areas and could reduce investment if necessary.

Finally, each indicator was placed into the coordinate system based on its scores in importance and satisfaction, allowing the identification of strengths and weaknesses, and determining the priority areas for improvement.

The quantitative data analysis in this article was conducted using SPSS 26 software.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Question 1: Characteristics of Swap Participants

Table 1. Demographic information of the respondents.

Characteristics		Frequency, n	Percentage, %
Gender	Male	23	12.78
	Female	157	87.22
Age (years)	Under 18	0	0
	18–25	38	21.11
	26–30	54	30
	31–40	66	36.67
	41–50	13	7.22
	Over 50	9	5
Education level	High school and below	9	5
	Junior college	28	15.56
	Undergraduate	120	66.67
	Graduate and above	23	12.78
Monthly income (RMB)	Below 5000	25	13.89
	5000–10,000	76	42.22
	10,001–15,000	48	26.67
	Above 15,000	31	17.22
Time of first participation in swap	2021 and earlier	50	27.78
	2022	48	26.67
	2023	65	36.11
	2024	17	9.44
Channels for participating in swap	Swap market	147	81.67
	Fixed swap space	42	23.33
	Online chat groups	97	53.89
	Second-hand trading apps	133	73.89

presents the demographic information of the questionnaire survey respondents. It shows that swap participants are primarily women aged 20 to 40. These women are highly educated, with most holding at least an undergraduate degree. Their monthly income ranges from RMB 5000 to 15,000 (at an exchange rate of approximately RMB 7 to USD 1), which is considered above average in Shanghai. Beyond this main group, other participants, such as men and elderly individuals, are often family members or friends who accompany the primary participants. To avoid bias due to the limited number of respondents, we discussed the findings with the platform’s manager. It was confirmed that the profile of the respondents closely matches the platform’s broader user base. Additionally, these respondents typically engage in swap through multiple channels and platforms, making them representative of users in Shanghai’s swap market.

Most respondents began participating in swaps in 2022 or later, which aligns with the establishment of domestic swap platforms. A small number of respondents who engaged in swap before 2021 were primarily exposed to swap activities abroad or through private swap parties with family and friends. Regarding participation channels, offline, there are several specialized swap activities or venues in Shanghai, with weekend pop-up swap markets being the most common and accessible for participants. However, fixed swap spaces are rare, and many respondents have not encountered this option. Online, chat groups organized by the platform alongside market activities have a significant user base. Surprisingly, there were notable data on people using second-hand trading apps for swap, despite the lack of a dedicated swap service app as of the time of the survey. In these cases, swaps on second-hand trading apps were usually initiated independently by users.

Consistent with previous findings, participants in swap activities in Shanghai are mainly young consumers with a high acceptance of new things [13]. A notable difference, however, is that due to the unrestricted product categories in Shanghai’s swap market, the proportion of male participants is significantly higher than in studies focusing solely on fashion product swaps [11]. However, male participation in swaps is still much lower compared to other collaborative consumption patterns, such as resale. In addition, swaps in Shanghai mainly occur in bustling city center areas, with participants generally having higher levels of education and income, similar to the situation in the UK and Finland. In Germany, however, swaps mostly occur in poorer areas with higher unemployment rates, where participants are primarily low-income individuals in need [6]. These regional similarities and differences warrant further investigation in future studies.

Compared to many other regions, a distinctive feature of swap participants in Shanghai is their high level of acceptance of digital technologies. In other countries, swaps mostly happen in physical stores or through offline activities organized by community groups, especially in non-commercial swaps, where people rarely use or need digital tools to coordinate swaps [40]. In China, however, digital technology has permeated almost every aspect of life. Even though there are no dedicated digital platforms for swap services, consumers have spontaneously used various digital tools to facilitate swaps. Digital technology is a key tool in driving the development of swap and other collaborative consumption patterns [41,42], and although swap activities are still emerging in China, digitalization could potentially accelerate the rapid growth of the swap market in the future.

3.2. Question 2: Motivations for Participating in Swaps

After conducting thematic analysis of the interview results, eight motivations were identified, and these were categorized with reference to existing studies. The main reference was the collaborative consumption motivation framework proposed by Netter, which classifies participation motivations into functional, economic, and hedonic motivations [24]. Building on this, this study added a new category: charitable motivation. Subsequently, the importance of these various motivations was measured through a questionnaire survey. The survey results are shown in Figure 3, where the motivations exhibit a clear non-uniform distribution, revealing distinct motivation preferences among participants in the Shanghai area.

The most important motivation for consumers to participate in swaps is the functional motivation related to transferring product ownership, specifically demonstrated by disposing of idle items (94.44%), obtaining needed items (66.11%), and hunting for novel items (43.33%). Most respondents hope to dispose of their idle goods through swap while also expecting to receive corresponding material rewards. From the results of “obtaining needed items” (66.11%) and “hunting for novel items” (43.33%), it appears that most respondents are pragmatic, with a typical profile being those practicing minimalism and having low material desires. However, there are also interest-driven respondents, with a typical profile being those who are easily tired of the items already owned and have strong material desires. Functional motivation requires the platform to provide efficient services to facilitate the circulation of idle goods, which is a fundamental function of a swap platform. Research has pointed out that the convenience and accessibility of the platform not only determine consumers’ choices regarding how to dispose of idle items but also affect the frequency, quantity, and types of items they dispose of [43]. Platforms can enhance the efficiency and success rate of swaps through model innovation, business expansion, and process optimization. In the future, with platform digitization, intelligent algorithms could help users match with swap partners.

Charitable motivation is the second major motivation for consumers to participate in swaps. The selection rate for the option “pursuing sustainability” (57.22%) shows that most respondents have a strong awareness of sustainability. They aim to promote the reuse of idle goods through swap, achieving the goal of “making the most of resources” to conserve resources and protect the environment [44]. This is related to the frugality habits of the Chinese, the government’s circular economy policies, and the environmentally friendly public opinion in society. Past research on charitable motivation has also mentioned the aspect of helping others [25,29], which was not evident among swap participants in Shanghai, possibly because there are almost no disadvantaged groups among the participants, and fairness is a guiding principle in swaps. In this study, charitable motivation reflects users’ desire to gain a sense of value by practicing sustainability on the platform. Platforms can create altruistic value for users by promoting sustainable concepts and applying incentives, for example, introducing concepts such as carbon credits to design a reward points system, allowing users to tangibly perceive the positive impact of their participation in swaps.

Although the data do not overwhelmingly support it, economic motivation can be considered the third major motivation for participating in swaps. Some respondents want to save on living expenses through swaps (41.11%). On the one hand, this relates to the financial situation and lifestyle habits of these individuals [25,45], and on the other hand, it is influenced by the broader economic downturn. Post-pandemic, discussions about the circular economy and consumption downgrading have been trending on Chinese social media, and people are no longer embarrassed to talk about saving money. However, it is possible that some respondents still find “save money” somewhat negative and deliberately avoided choosing this option, meaning that the actual influence of economic motivation may be greater than reflected in the survey. This is why economic motivation is ranked third in this study. Profit-seeking is a human instinct, and if the platform can maximize benefits for users, it will help increase their competitiveness in the overall second-hand market, not just the swap market. For example, some respondents indicated that they choose to participate in swaps rather than reselling idle goods because swaps bring more value realization. Therefore, the platform can assist users in uncovering and ensuring the value of their items by offering services like value assessment, quality inspection, and insurance.

Hedonic motivation is classified as the fourth category of motivation. First, some respondents view participating in swaps as a way to socialize (43.89%), hoping to connect with others through the swap of goods. The values and lifestyles of people who participate in swap are often aligned, making it natural for conversations about goods and interests to occur in the swap scene. This study categorizes “socialize” under hedonic motivation because swaps in Shanghai primarily occur between strangers, and the social interactions among participants tend to be light and short-term, unlike in some other countries where community swaps foster deeper and longer-lasting social relationships [28,40]. The other two hedonic motivation options had lower selection rates (experiencing new things: 32.78%, entertaining: 26.27%). Nevertheless, their impact should not be overlooked, as those who value “experiences” or “fun”, although few in number, are likely the core value creators in swap activities. For example, stall owners who are frequently active at swap markets often bring high-quality goods and enjoy interacting with others, creating a positive atmosphere for the swap platform. Hedonic motivation indicates that users need interaction and entertainment on the platform, which is often created by the users themselves rather than directly provided by the platform. However, the platform can offer some support, such as strengthening community building and developing a credit system to enhance trust and foster a positive atmosphere. To encourage users to stay active, the platform can design incentive mechanisms. Additionally, the platform can host interesting activities to create more social and entertainment opportunities for users.

The motivation analysis in this study has almost finished synthesizing the findings from previous research, forming a relatively comprehensive framework.

3.3. Question 3: Quality Evaluation of Swap Platform

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Construction of Quality Evaluation Indicator System by Grounded Theory Analysis

During the grounded theory analysis on interview data, 18 concepts were identified through open coding, with the number of times each concept was coded ranging from 4 to 13. Axial coding was then used to establish categories, resulting in three main categories and six subcategories. The “Content Factors” refer to the core content users encounter on the swap platform, including user characteristics and goods characteristics. The “System Factors” refer to the rules and activity design of the swap platform, including rules and models, and activity planning. The “Service Factors” refer to the services provided by the swap platform to users, including organization and management, and venue and materials. Since this study primarily uses qualitative research to determine the dimensions of swap platform quality evaluation without discussing its relationship with specific indicators, selective coding can directly define the core category as “Factors Affecting Swap Platform Quality”. The content included is the result of open and axial coding. The final coding results are shown in

Table 2. The coding of factors affecting swap platform quality.

Main Category	Subcategory	Concept	Concept Description
Content factors	User characteristics	User quality	The overall quality of people participating in swaps on the platform
		User quantity	The number of people participating in swaps on the platform
		User taste	The aesthetics and preferences of people participating in swaps on the platform
	Goods characteristics	Goods quality	The quality of goods circulated on the platform
		Goods categories and quantities	The categories and quantity of goods circulated on the platform
System factors	Rules and models	Swap rules design	The rationality of the rules to be followed during swapping set by the platform
		Swap medium design	The usability of the intermediary objects for swap designed by the platform
		Charging model	The methods and amounts of fees that the platform charges users
	Activity planning	Frequency of activities	The frequency of swap activities organized by the platform
		Diversity of activity forms	The variety of different types of activities arranged by the platform during swap activities
		Commercialization of activities	The involvement of merchants selling non idle goods during swap activities organized by the platform
Service factors	Organization and management	Review level	The level of review the platform conducts on goods offered by users for swap
		Organizational capacity	The platform’s ability to organize swap activities
		Dispute resolution ability	The platform’s ability to mediate disputes between users
		Service attitude	The attitude of platform staff towards users
	Venue and materials	Venue location	The geographical conditions of the swap venue, such as distance and transportation convenience
		Venue environment	The environmental conditions of the swap venue, such as size, lighting, and whether it is indoor or outdoor
		Facilities and materials	The condition of facilities and materials at the swap venue, such as tables, chairs, and banner stands

.

In the absence of research references, grounded theory allows for a comprehensive identification of factors influencing the quality of swap platforms. Based on the results of Table 2, it can be observed that various aspects of platform performance impact users’ perception of platform quality. After completing the grounded theory analysis, the “concepts” from the coding results were selected as evaluation indicators to establish a quality evaluation indicator system for the swap platform. As an exploratory analysis, the evaluation indicators extracted so far are relatively broad. In the future, as the platform develops and the user base expands, further refinement can be made to create a more detailed indicator system.

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Development of Quality Assessment Model by IPA

An importance–performance scale was designed based on the quality evaluation indicator system constructed using grounded theory, and then an IPA quadrant map was created based on the results of the questionnaire survey, as shown in Figure 4. The intercept on the x-axis is 3.645, which is the average perceived satisfaction of all indicators; the intercept on the y-axis is 3.683, which is the average perceived importance of all indicators. The results of the IPA fall into four quadrants on the coordinate system. Overall, the 18 indicators are evenly distributed across the quadrants, clearly distinguishing between indicators that need improvement and those that are strengths.

In the “concentrate here” quadrant, the most prominent indicator is F8, “Charging model”, which has the lowest satisfaction among all the indicators. In fact, the platform’s charging method is to only charge stall owners for idle items as a stall fee, and the fee is not high. Users’ dissatisfaction mainly stems from consideration of economic benefits and lack of understanding of the commercial attributes of the platform. In this case, the platform’s profit model still needs to be explored to balance user experience and platform operation. The other three indicators are F3, “User taste”, F4, “Goods quality”, and F14, “Dispute resolution ability”, with satisfaction levels close to the average. Although these issues may seem easy to solve, in reality, “User taste” and “Goods quality” are the result of long-term accumulation, mainly related to the platform’s tone and openness, making them challenging to adjust. It is essential for the platform to establish reasonable entry standards to balance the user base with quality. As for “Dispute resolution ability”, this requires the platform to invest more manpower, which is costly. In the future, the platform could consider introducing a credit system or adopting other lightweight operation strategies.

In the “low priority” quadrant, the prominent indicators are F7, “Swap medium design”, F10, “Diversity of activity forms”, and F11, “Commercialization of activities”. The remaining indicator is F9, “Frequency of activities”. The first indicator, “Swap medium design”, is an innovative feature of this platform, which was the first in China to provide intermediary objects in swap services. The effectiveness of using intermediary objects increases with the number of users, so continuous promotion is necessary. The last three indicators all belong to the activity planning category, indicating that although respondents do not have high expectations for the platform’s activity planning, they still hope to see improvements in this area. Indeed, the platform’s current swap markets offer relatively monotonous activities and have few merchant sales stalls, suggesting that the platform could develop more diverse activities and expand its business model within the context of the circular economy and collaborative consumption, in order to enhance its overall value. The fact that users want more frequent swap activities shows a significant demand for regular swap services, therefore the platform can consider establishing a permanent swap space or offering digital services in the future.

The “possible overkill” quadrant includes indicators F2, “User quantity”, F5, “Goods categories and quantities”, F6, “Swap rules design”, and F18, “Facilities and materials”. In these areas, the platform does not need to invest too much effort. As of now, the platform is still working on improving the presentation of facilities and materials, but the cost-effectiveness of this investment in enhancing user experience may not be very high. The “keep up the good work” quadrant includes indicators F1, “User Quality”, F12, “Review level”, F13, “Organizational capacity”, F15, “Service attitude”, F16, “Venue location”, and F17, “Venue environment”. In these areas, the platform can maintain its current level of work to sustain a good user experience.

Based on the results of the IPA, it can be concluded that the quality evaluation model constructed in this study demonstrates good interpretability. The differentiation among the indicators is clear, and their distribution is reasonable, effectively evaluating the quality of the swap platform. The model is easy to operate during data collection and analysis, and the results provide a smooth path for analyzing corresponding executable optimization measures, showing strong practicality. As factors influencing platform quality change in the future, the IPA model can adapt flexibly and continue to improve.

4. Conclusions

This study is the first to focus on optimizing the quality of swap platforms. Using a mixed-methods approach that combines qualitative and quantitative phases, it explores the characteristics and motivations of participants involved in idle goods swaps in the Shanghai region. Relying on a startup swap platform, the study constructs an IPA model to evaluate swap platform quality. Analyzing consumer characteristics and motivations can help platforms understand user needs and accurately position themselves. The evaluation model based on IPA can distinguish the priority of quality indicators, thereby improving the user experience in a targeted and practical manner.

This article explores the research content through three key questions. For question 1: “What are the characteristics of swap participants?”, the study finds that the core participants in Shanghai’s swap market are highly educated women aged 20 to 40, with upper-middle incomes, who exhibit a notable regional characteristic of high acceptance of digital technology. For question 2: “What are the motivations for participating in swaps?”, their participation is primarily motivated by functional, charitable, economic, and hedonic factors. These factors almost integrate the findings of past research, forming a more complete framework. For question 3: “How can the quality of a swap platform be evaluated?”, the quality evaluation model developed in this study consists of 18 evaluation indicators, which are distinctly differentiated and reasonably distributed, allowing for a systematic and effective evaluation of the quality of swap platforms. Furthermore, the usage and analysis process of this model is straightforward and can be flexibly iterated based on changes in actual conditions, demonstrating good usability.

Although exploratory in nature, this research offers valuable insights into methodology for evaluating swap platform quality and provides practical recommendations for platform optimization. It expands the scope of consumer research on swap in China, fills a gap in platform quality research, and contributes to both theoretical and practical development in the field of collaborative consumption. The study, however, has certain limitations that may guide future research. Firstly, due to the small market size, the number of respondents accessible in this study was limited. Future studies should increase the sample size to enhance the validity and representativeness of statistical analysis. Secondly, this study focuses on quality evaluation for a single platform. It is necessary to extend the research method to other platforms to verify the applicability of the proposed platform quality evaluation model. Lastly, since the current swap platforms are all in the startup phase with immature designs and operations, the model should be adjusted in response to platform changes and feedback. The synchronized optimization of the platform and the research model will jointly promote the healthy development and innovative upgrading of the swap market.