Mine Launches 'Ownership Directory' of People and their Favorite Purchases
New App Powers Product Discovery By Browsing What Other People Have Bought
PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Mine today launched the first application for easily creating and browsing user profiles of purchases. The Mine app is a giant leap forward for building a global ownership directory that lets users expand their tastes by discovering new products and stores through people they know or admire. Backed by Palo Alto super-angel Michael Dearing of Harrison Metal Capital with a $600,000 seed investment, the Mine app is available immediately on the iPhone App Store and at http://getmine.com.
Despite the growing volume of public social media updates, tweets and photos related to people's purchases, and the explosion of wants, likes, and wish lists all over the web, no site or app currently focuses exclusively on what people have actually bought recently, on and off-line. This existing sharing behavior was the starting point for Mine.
To create an 'ownership directory' and make sharing purchases faster, easier and more useful for all parties, Mine features three key innovations:
1. An automatic e-receipt importer lets new users preview their recent
purchase history in a single click, by reviving receipts from Amazon,
iTunes, Zappos and Etsy saved in their Gmail or Yahoo! Mail inboxes.
Users are then free to select which of these purchases they would like to
add to their Mine profile for others to discover;
2. A powerful product search engine lets users add individual purchases, by
simply listing them in plain English. Mine then offers up a selection of
high quality catalog photos of the item from which they can choose, and
asks the user where they bought the item;
3. An intelligent link-matching technology pairs every item shared to the
best link on the web where the item can be purchased.
The result: Mine profiles can be set up in seconds, feature dozens of items from the moment a new user signs up, and offer users complete control over what they want to feature and share on their profile.
And when it comes to browsing the directory and discovering new products through other people, all items feature a large, clear catalog photo, store information, and a direct link to learn more and buy the item.
This link-matching feature is a powerful feature on mobile devices, where a single tap on an app or song listed on someone's profile brings the user directly to the relevant page on Amazon, iTunes or Google Play.
"We already rely on people we know for so many of our purchasing decisions, whether it's books, music, fashion, homeware or electronics. Mine turbo-charges this behavior, so that the next time you're considering buying something, you can instantly look up what your network tends to buy in that category, the brands and specific models they prefer, and the stores where they shop," said Pierre Legrain, Mine co-founder and CEO.
"What have you bought that you love? That's a question that everyone likes to answer and Mine gives consumers the ability to broadcast it to their friends every day," said Michael Dearing, Harrison Metal founder, Mine investor and board member. "The Mine team has done something that is exceptionally hard; created an ownership directory that is technologically elegant yet dead simple to use."
A sample Mine profile can be found at http://getmine.com/Mike-Hudack, and Mine screenshots at Mine profile; Start Your Mine.
About Mine
Mine is an ownership directory that connects people and the items they buy to create personalized networks of product discovery. Mine is the first application focused exclusively on ownership; members create, control, update and share information on their purchases using Mine's unmatched database of products and merchants. As a member of the Mine ownership directory, users can tap into the buying choices of friends, family and people they admire to help make informed and inspired purchase decisions.