New find.....GroopDealz

I found this new company that offers daily boutique deals- GroopDealz. They have some beautiful and unique accessories. The way it works it that you sign up for an account and when you find something you'd like to buy, click the link to purchase. Once they get enough committed to buy an item (to get a group discount), then your credit card is charged and your item is shipped. I'm currently in love with this itty bitty bib necklace. I signed up for two already (they're only $10!). I think it's smart to buy with others and get the group discount. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Tech Review: Lyst

I love trying out new companies that combine retail, fashion, and technology. One of these companies is Lyst. Basically, Lyst is a social shopping site. You can follow designers, boutiques, or bloggers to see their style. You can also create your own lists (it reminds me of Pinterest in that way). Within Lyst, you can click on any items to purchase. You can also connect Lyst to your Pinterest account and get notified when those items go on sale. Pretty smart.

What I like: I like being able to tag items that I'm interesting in and retain the pricing information, retailer, etc. It's also very friendly to bloggers. If you have a blog and want to connect your blog to your Lyst- they make it very easy to download the html for the widget. Then, you can go directly to Lyst and see how many referrals you've generated. If someone (that was referred to Lyst by your blog) buys an item that you've tagged on Lyst, then Lyst offers a commission for these resulting sales. This is very smart and useful. I've added one of these Lyst buttons to my blog (see link on the left of this page). Let me know what you think- is it annoying, useful, distracting?

What I don't like: The items available to tag are limited. You can't just tag anything you want from any retailer. The item has to already be included in Lyst. I found this to be very limiting. For example, they have partnerships with specific retailers (like JCrew). But, when I searched for a specific JCrew top, it wasn't there. They had some other JCrew tops, but not the one I was looking for, which meant that I couldn't add it to my list. I don't know what dictates which items are included in Lyst. Maybe it's items for which JCrew has excess inventory? Either way, it's very limiting.
Also, Lyst indicates that you can connect to your Pinterest account. I think this is genius. I'm supposed to get notified via Lyst when something I've pinned goes on sale (if it's from a retailer that partners with Lyst already). That has yet to happen and I've had my Lyst account for several months. Obviously, they have bugs to work out but if they can do it, this could be a great way to shop.

Tech review: HavetoHave

I love to explore new companies that are in the fashion/shopping space. This review is about HavetoHave. Havetohave is very similar to Pinterest as it allows you to tag items online (via a bookmarklet installed in your browser). Havetohave has a focus on fashion (clothes, shoes, handbags). The extra feature they offer is the option to watch tagged items and they send you a notification when those items are on sale. They do have some kinks to work out as I've tagged a few items that I know have gone on sale, but wasn't notified. But, I love the idea of watching/tracking all the items that I've tagged. Pinterest just really needs to add this feature.

HavetoHave seems to have a current promotion with Renttherunway- a company where you can rent a designer dress for a special occasion. If you tag a few items on runttherunway via HavetoHave, then you're entered into a contest to get a free dress rental.

Check them out and see what you think. I still think Pinterest is better positioned in this space, so they should really just add a shopping feature. Can you imagine- shopping via pinterest? I'd probably do a lot more online shopping :)

Tech in Fashion: Eyeona

Living in the bay area/silicon valley has it's benefits. I love new technology and there are so many exciting startups in this area. I especially think that technology in fashion is poised to make huge disruptions (in a good way). One of these new companies is Eyeona. Here's a quick summary:

Eyeona is an app (on your phone or computer) that allows you to track your purchases and notifies you when an item drops in price. Most retailers have policies where you can get a price adjustment if an item goes on sale within 14 or so days after a purchase. The app also lets you tag an item that you'd like to watch (pre-purchase) and then notifies you when/if that item goes on sale.

The good: I love having a way to tag items that I want to 'stalk' until they go on sale. I actually tagged a blouse at JCrew, ordered it online, and a few days later got notified via Eyeona that the blouse was on sale and that JCrew was issuing me a refund for the difference. I did not have to do anything! It worked like magic.

The bad: on the negative side, tagging items is a bit cumbersome. You have to copy/paste the link into the Eyeone website, or scan a reciept. They should have bookmarklet add-in to your browser to make online tagging easier. Also, they currently work with only a limited number of retailers. JCrew, Anthropologie, Ann Taylor are some that are listed. It will just be a matter of time before they partner with a wider selection.

But, if you have desire to save money and want to give this a go, the application has promise. Let me know if you try it and your thoughts. Have you found anything better?