Wanelo, the social shopping site that resembles a well-designed window display, is quickly gaining fans online, Â despite being largely under the mainstream radar.
On Wednesday, the company revealed it had six million registered users through its Web site and application, 70 percent of them visiting the site at least once a month. In November 2012, the site had one million members. The service also said that it had a catalog of five million products, including items like printed tennis shoes and jeweled in-ear headphones, from 200,000 different online retailers and shops. By comparison, The Fancy, a similar site, has more than four million users.
Wanelo users can sign up for free through e-mail or Facebook and are directed to e-commerce sites to make purchases. Users can also save their favorite products to purchase later and assemble them in collections for others to browse. The company said that members had saved its array of items 700 million times, or eight million each day.
Deena Varshavskaya, the chief executive of Wanelo, who founded the site in September 2010, attributed the company’s pickup to word of mouth, not Facebook or any other social media tie-in.
“Only a portion of the users connected their Facebook†account, she said. “Facebook has been an important part of the mix, but it wasn’t the main driver of growth in any way.â€
“It’s really word of mouth, not any viral loop that we’ve created,†she added.
The company declined to comment publicly on rumors that is it also in the midst of raising a significant round of venture capital, which TechCrunch reported at north of $100 million, other than to say it is “well-funded for growth.â€
The site is quickly becoming a hot property for its foothold among a younger demographic â€" particularly women â€" and its strong grasp of mobile technology. A number of brands, including Urban Outfitters, Quirky and Madewell are flocking to the service to establish a presence. In addition, unlike some of the company’s peers, including Pinterest, the service has a built-in revenue model. The e-commerce sites visited by Wanelo shoppers pay the company a portion of each sale. Wanelo did not comment on how much money it was generating, but Michael Silverman, the chief operating officer of The Fancy, said in an e-mail that the site, which is smaller than Wanelo, could pull in as much as $100,000 in revenue in a single day.
Ms. Varshavskaya said the company’s main focus was to work on ways to better personalize the products that members see when they come to the site’s homepage, which is likely to keep them shopping for items longer and sharing items with friends.
“We going to keep driving engagement,†she said. “Which is why we’re seeing such high numbers.â€
