Wed 8 Aug 2007
Cambridge-Based StyleFeeder Launches New Social Shopping Application
Posted by David under B2C , Boston , Cambridge , Social Media , Social Networking , Software , Start-Up , Tech , Web 2.0StyleFeeder, an online social shopping site based in Cambridge, launched their new StyleFeeder Personal Shopper today. Available in beta at www.stylefeeder.com, this FireFox and IE plug-in (very soon to be released) brings much of the functionality of this local social shopping service right into a nice downloadable browser application. The sidebar (explorer bar in IE) is a piece of real estate that has not been used much lately but has been attempted many times before as a way to establish a more permanent place on the users desktop.
StyleFeeder is hoping that the launch of the Personal Shopping sidebar will put the “social” into social shopping and set them apart from other start-ups in the market including Kaboodle, Stylehive and others. This is great timing considering that Kaboodle was just picked-up for a rumored $30+ million!
For the web 2.0 geeks in the audience, the best way I can describe the overall StyleFeeder concept is that it is like a del.icio.us (social bookmarking) meets Lastfm (music recommendation) but for online shopping and style advice. For everyone else, it is a way to use the “wisdom of your buddies” to help you discover new things to buy online.
Users start by creating a shopping watch list by bookmarking and rating items they find on ecommerce sites. Once you have started building up your watch list and adding friends to your account, the service will start to recommend other “stuff you’ll like” based on a proprietary algorithm developed by the company. The service will also allow you to keep up with what your friends are interested in as well.
The StyleFeeder Personal Shopper sidebar is used to add a level of real-time interaction through live chat and another chat-style “shop with friends” feature that will allow you to team-up with another user to create a combined watch list. It also provides the ability to find “style twins”, or users that to have the same taste as you based on your combined watch lists. The later feature is particularly interesting because it allows the service to be as much about finding other people as things to buy.
Technorati tags: stylefeeder, boston web 2.0, social netwrorking, social media, blog
August 9th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Hey, just wanted to follow up that our version for Internet Explorer is now available!
phil.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:35 am
[...] social shopping site most recently launched a new design and social sidebar application this August as covered in an earlier post. The site helps users stay up on trends by creating social shopping [...]