Today Wanelo, the online platform that lets people discover and share things they “want, need, and love,” issued an update to its iOS app that brings two handy new features, search and “stories,” to its mobile shopping experience.
In general, Wanelo has emerged as a powerful player in the social shopping space since it launched back in 2010 — I’m told that Wanelo’s user count just passed the 10 million mark, which reflects nearly 70 percent growth in the past five months alone. The app’s core demographic, young fashion-savvy females, is certainly one of the most lucrative target markets out there — which may be why more than 200,000 stores have added their products to the Wanelo platform.
So this morning, I swung by Wanelo’s San Francisco headquarters to speak with founder and CEO Deena Varshavskaya about all the recent growth and get a hands-on look at the new mobile features.
The search feature is pretty self-explanatory — it lets users look for specific items, such as “black dress” or “pointed-toe heels” — across the shops that they follow and the entire Wanelo platform. The “Stories” feature lets users create select and group together products and tie them all together with a short written explanation. It’s a nice addition, as it will let Wanelo users flex their editorial muscles and highlight certain trends.
Wanelo is certainly in a competitive space, as everyone from Pinterest to Polyvore to Vogue is working to be the go-to destination for stylish women with disposable income to burn. Varshavskaya says that Wanelo is set apart from the others in part because of the no-nonsense way that it facilitates shopping’s bottom line: actually buying stuff. “All the problems we’re solving are around shopping,” she says. “There are plenty of platforms… where you can see lots of images. But Wanelo is where you shop.”