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Name: Hukkster
One-Liner Pitch: The shopping tool tracks your most-wanted items online and alerts you immediately when the price drops.
Why It's Taking Off: Hukkster provides a simple money-saving solution for shoppers who don't want to pay full price for what they want.
You don't have to wait around for an annual sample sale or online coupon code to nab apparel, shoes, handbags and accessories at a discount.
Bargain-loving men and women are using Hukkster, an online shopping tool, to track their most-wanted items online. All you have to do is click, save the item to your favorites and Hukkster will alert you about item-specific sales, coupon codes or site-wide discounts.
To get started, sign into Hukkster with your Facebook or Twitter account, pull the "Hukk It" button to the bookmark bar (the same place where your Pinterest "Pin It" button lives), and commence browsing. When you see gorgeous pumps, amazing baubles or a stylish bag you could see yourself wearing — but not paying full price for — Hukk It.
You can choose whether to be alerted when the item goes on sale in general, drops at least 25% or drops at least 50%. Trust us, it's way more effective than reminding yourself to check the price later only to abandon your virtual shopping cart. It's perfect for stuff you don't need, but want when it's on sale.
When we bookmarked a cute purse, we received an email just two weeks later, alerting us it was 30% off with a coupon code.
Hukkster's cofounders Katie Finnegan and Erica Bell spent six years in the retail industry before moving onto management consulting and creating their own startup. According to these industry experts, products always go on sale.
"The idea for Hukkster was born as a seamless platform to let you just pick the specific items you're interested in and get notified when they go on sale," Bell told Mashable.
Hukkster solves the frustration of waiting for a holiday sale or a coupon code in your email, Bell said. The tool streamlines discovering relevant deals at the right time.
"It's filtering the right offers your way — nothing more and nothing less," Bell said. "It's not social, not a discovery platform." Unlike many social shopping tools, Hukkster keeps what you want to buy private.
Hukkster's main source of income currently stems from referral fees on purchases. Hukkster is affiliated with more than 400 stores including Shopbop, Asos, Nordstorm, Macy's, Zappos and Piperlime. Since its October launch, the startup has captured the attention of the Internet-famous Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss twins, who led a $1 million seed round for the shopping site.
The cofounders are hopeful Hukkster will begin to fix the "huge disconnect" between consumers and retailers. Retailers are ineffectively trying to reach consumers about deals and discounts, according to Finnegan. Consumers receive a slew of emails daily that end up tossed in the trash. When it comes around to actually wanting to buy something, there are no discounts to apply.
The cofounders hope to extend the Hukkster's deal-searching powers across categories other than just apparel and accessories. The team hopes Hukkster will point consumers to the right time to buy because price elasticity in the retail industry is vastly common.
For now, Hukkster is only available as a web-based application. Before developing an Android app, the founders are working with developers to create an iOS app to leverage important user demographics such as stay-at-home moms who use the Apple tablet as their main computing device.
Image courtesy of Flickr, 12th St David (taking a breather)
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