Company:Wanelo

From HandWiki

Wanelo is an e-commerce company headquartered in San Francisco’s SoMa district. It was founded in 2012 by Deena Varshavskaya.[1][2][3]

History

Deena Varshavskaya founded the company because she felt frustrated by shopping in physical malls and wanted a social media platform that would allow her to see what her friends were buying. In 2010, she hired a web developer to help her create the website, which underwent numerous changes into 2011.[4] The website's name "Wanelo" is a combination of the words "want", "need" and "love".[5]

The company raised $2 million in seed-funding round in March 2012 from investors including Floodgate Capital and First Round Capital.[6][7] In March 2013, Wanelo raised $10 million in funding reportedly raising their valuation to US$100 million.[8] Wanelo 3.0 was launched in 2013.[9]

The company was one of several websites whose user data was hacked and sold by GnosticPlayers in 2019.[10]

Overview

Wanelo is a social platform where users can share and search for items,[11] which they purchase through the retailer's website.[12] The site does not feature any advertisements[13] and is primarily monetized through affiliate marketing.[14] Users can create an account on the site by signing up via email or connecting via Facebook.[15] The site only allows items which are currently available for purchase to be posted.[13]

Wanelo users can post products or follow stores and people.[16][17] Users can also “Save” items others have posted on Wanelo into their own wish lists.[18] Users can also search for products via hashtags, like many other social networks.[16][19] The site's layout, which allows users to save and share images of items, has been compared to Pinterest.[16][17]

Retailers whose products are posted on the website are able to create store pages, which they can organize and manage.[20][21] Some retailers, including Abercrombie & Fitch added cross-functionality with Wanelo to their own online storefronts.[22][23]

Usage

As of August 2014, Wanelo had 11 million[24] registered users, up from one million in November 2012.[25] As of 2014, 90% of Wanelo's members were women and 60% were under the age of 24.[26][27] Along with its website, Wanelo has mobile apps for iOS and Android operating systems.[28][29] 85% of Wanelo's traffic is from mobile devices.[30]

References

  1. Eliza Kern (May 7, 2013). "Social shopping app Wanelo's redesign puts users in charge as it eyes a wider audience". Gigaom. http://gigaom.com/2013/05/07/social-shopping-app-wanelos-redesign-puts-users-in-charge-as-it-eyes-a-wider-audience/. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  2. Matt Stuart. "The hot mall drawing 8 million shopaholics". CNN Money. https://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2013/05/27/t-ts-wanelo-online-mall.cnnmoney. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  3. "Next Big Thing? Wanelo Is a Twitter for Products". Bloomberg TV. https://www.bloomberg.com/video/teens-flock-to-social-shopping-site-wanelo-CFmu7~KSTzqtIzA9kQMcXg.html. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  4. "Wanelo: Social Commerce Site is Big with Young Shoppers". 24 January 2013. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/a-look-at-wanelo-a-social-commerce-site-for-younger-shoppers/?_r=0. 
  5. Marikar, Sheila (7 May 2014). "Like Mall Browsing, With a Click". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/fashion/Wanelo-Social-Media-Shopping-Site-Deena-Varshavskaya-ecommerce.html?_r=1#. Retrieved August 2, 2014. 
  6. Jenna Wortham (August 16, 2013). "Hanging Out at the E-Mall". New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/17/technology/hanging-out-at-the-e-mall.html?pagewanted=all&_r=3&. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  7. Jenna Wortham (January 24, 2013). "Wanelo: Social Commerce Site Is Big With Young Shoppers". New York Times Bits. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/24/a-look-at-wanelo-a-social-commerce-site-for-younger-shoppers/. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  8. Yarow, Jay. "Online shopping mall Wanelo raised $10 m" (in en-US). https://www.businessinsider.com/online-shopping-mall-wanelo-raised-10-m-2013-8. 
  9. Lorraine Sanders (7 May 2013). "What Style Startups Mean For Women in Tech". Fast Company. http://www.fastcompany.com/3009335/tech-forecast/what-style-startups-mean-for-women-in-tech. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  10. "A hacker has dumped nearly one billion user records over the past two months" (in en). https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-hacker-has-dumped-nearly-one-billion-user-records-over-the-past-two-months/. 
  11. Rebecca Grant (May 7, 2013). "Wanelo 3.0 makes e-commerce less 'primitive' by organizing products around people". Venture Beat. https://venturebeat.com/2013/05/07/wanelo-3-0-makes-e-commerce-less-primitive-by-organizing-products-around-people/. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  12. John Patrick Pullen (August 11, 2013). "Giving Ecommerce a Social Twist". Entrepreneur. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227067. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  13. 13.0 13.1 "Startups like Fab, Fancy, Svpply, Wish and Wanelo are using social networks to transform the digital shopping experience.". Smart Planet. http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/the-report/e-commerce-gets-social/. Retrieved August 2, 2014. 
  14. Tsotsis, Alexia (May 7, 2013). "Internet Mall Wanelo Gets Personal With Wanelo 3.0". Tech Crunch. https://techcrunch.com/2013/05/07/internet-mall-wanelo-gets-personal-with-wanelo-3-0/. Retrieved October 16, 2013. 
  15. Marie Look (September 19, 2013). "Wanelo is Your Next Shopping Addiction". App Storm. http://iphone.appstorm.net/reviews/lifestyle/wanelo-is-your-next-shopping-addiction/. Retrieved October 16, 2013. 
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 Tomio Geron (March 27, 2013). "Inside Wanelo, The Hot Social Shopping Service". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2013/03/27/inside-wanelo-the-hot-social-shopping-service/. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  17. 17.0 17.1 Alexia Tsotsis (June 8, 2012). "Wanelo Raises $2M … But Is Distilling Pinterest To Products The Right Idea?". Tech Crunch. https://techcrunch.com/2012/06/08/wanelo-raises-2m-but-is-distilling-pinterest-to-products-the-right-idea/. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  18. Leena Rao (March 27, 2013). "With 6M Users, Hot Social Ecommerce Startup Wanelo Is Seeing 8M Products Saved Every Day". Tech Crunch. https://techcrunch.com/2013/03/27/with-6m-users-hot-social-ecommerce-startup-wanelo-is-seeing-8m-products-saved-every-day/. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  19. Colleen Taylor (August 26, 2013). "Now With 10M Users, Wanelo Adds Search And 'Stories' To Its Hot Social Shopping App". Tech Crunch. https://techcrunch.com/2013/08/26/now-with-10m-users-wanelo-adds-search-and-stories-to-its-hot-social-shopping-app/. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  20. Jenna Wortham (March 27, 2013). "Wanelo, Social Commerce Site, Picks Up Speed". New York Times Bits. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/27/wanelo-social-commerce-site-picks-up-speed/. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  21. "What's Wanelo? Why small retailers should care". ZDNet. https://www.zdnet.com/article/whats-wanelo-why-small-retailers-should-care/. 
  22. "Forget Facebook And Pinterest, Wanelo Is The Hottest Social Network For Urban Outfitters". Buzzfeed Business. 19 November 2013. https://www.buzzfeed.com/sapna/urban-outfitters-is-hottest-on-wanelo. Retrieved August 2, 2014. 
  23. "No distractions". Internet Retailer. http://www.internetretailer.com/2014/06/02/no-distractions. Retrieved August 2, 2014. 
  24. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named businessweek14
  25. Natalia Angulo (July 26, 2013). "Wanelo, Next Verb in Digital Dictionary?". Fox Business. https://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/entrepreneurs/2013/07/26/wanelo-next-verb-in-digital-dictionary/. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  26. "3 brands that are driving the future of social-mobile shopping". The Next Web. 24 May 2014. https://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2014/05/24/3-brands-driving-future-social-mobile-shopping/. Retrieved August 2, 2014. 
  27. Julie Ma (June 25, 2013). "Wanelo: The Online Shopping Site Built by a Woman for Women". New York Magazine The Cut. https://nymag.com/thecut/2013/06/new-online-shopping-site-by-a-woman-for-women.html. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  28. Colleen Leahey (May 29, 2013). "Why your teen loves Wanelo". CNN Money. https://money.cnn.com/2013/05/23/technology/wanelo-deena-varshavskaya.pr.fortune/index.html. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  29. Eliza Kern (June 12, 2013). "Wanelo CEO: we're going to see a shift in power when it comes to social shopping". Gigaom. http://gigaom.com/2013/06/12/wanelo-ceo-were-going-to-see-a-shift-in-power-when-it-comes-to-social-shopping/. Retrieved October 15, 2013. 
  30. "The Power Women Who Are Reinventing The Way You Shop Fashion Online". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2014/05/28/the-power-women-who-are-reinventing-the-way-you-shop-online/. Retrieved August 2, 2014.