Stockholm-Based Helishopter Takes On The Big Guys | Hacker News Reader

Stockholm-Based Helishopter Takes On The Big Guys

arcticstartup.com

17 pointsjp198915 comments

I'm wondering if my take on this is in the minority, but I have the impression that none of my friends would be very good for suggesting things to buy. Sure, it might work for "I want an okay table / silverware / cups" - to which the answer would be "I got this nice something at my local Target / Walmart / Ikea", but it breaks down for most things that I buy. For example - flashlights, knives, clothes, computers, pens, ink, watches, running shoes... For those, I visit the relevant forum (watchfreeks, fountainpennetwork, candlepowerforums, etc) and decide from there. Sure, on some occasions, a friend or two have already done the research, so I can get a jump-start that way - but it's an exception rather than the rule.

I'm actually quite curious whether I'm living in a bubble with my shopping trends being abnormal and atypical, or whether it's a bigger pattern. Do most people shop differently (and would benefit a lot from friends' suggestions)?

Not a bad point - I personally have a couple of friends who are pretty clued up on a few things (whether it's tech, fashion, design stuff) so I generally am inspired by what they buy. I don't even always ask them - but I follow what they are purchasing because I trust their judgment on those things.

I'm of course a little biased, so I'd also be interested in hearing from some other people on their shopping habits!

Good to hear there is some noise in Stockholm

Absolutely. Where are you working at (I see you're in Sthlm)?

Currently contracting iOS stuff in my underwear from my parents place. I don't put pants on for nothin'.

My hero!

Helishopter looks really cool! You guys should come and pitch at the next Startup Pub in Stockholm: http://www.facebook.com/groups/426048174127676/

Look awesome - Are you the admin? When is the next event?

Usually at the end of each month. I'm not an admin. Just founder of a startup that usually attends, https://degoo.com

BTW - As you may notice from our landing page our video is outdated (UI-wise) - so we'd be open to having a HN'er make us a new one. Any takers?

I like it, seems like a hybrid between amazon and pinterest... but what makes you different from sites like thefancy.com?

That's pretty spot on. We're trying to mix the "practical" of Amazon (everything is there) with the "inspirational" of Pinterest (your friends are there).

We're different from the Fancy in that we aim to provide a natural destination point for all shopping (whereby we have a very large product database) - where I believe the Fancy are more focused on a "personal curation". The Fancy is an awesome site though!

And what about svpply.com ?

Well after jp1989's reply, I'd say it's the same... I've only ever used svpply for inspiration and personally think that thefancy.com is better for that. I buy most of my stuff directly from the stores websites so I liked that Helishopter just brought me through as I feel that I trust the service more that way. Thefancy adds it's own premium to the price on all of the stuff I've found there so I always google the product and buy it from the original store instead. The fancy's images are waaaaay better though so I'll probably stick to that approach. Get better images and you've got a winner imo!

Well - it's fair to say that we are closer to Svpply than to The Fancy. One of the main differences is that Svpply focus on curation and user-generated content, whilst we are indexing stores in order to create a large database. On sites like Svpply/Fancy, I believe the users are more inclined to scroll endlessly looking for product inspiration.

We want Helishopter to become a "natural destination" i.e. when you know you are looking for a "green polo jacket", you go to Helishopter and search for a "green polo jacket". From there you can see all the "green polo jackets" in our database that are sorted by not only popularity but the social dimension as well. One of the fundamental features is that we show you products that your social connections have interacted with previously. For example, if one of your "friends" has brought, or interacted with a "green polo jacket" from gap.com, that product will show up first in the search results.

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