Pricegrabber, a comparison shopping site that’s been around for more than a decade, is bringing in some new blood.
On Monday, the company said it had acquired Snapette, a 500 Startups-backed mobile shopping app with a focus on discovering local fashion. The companies declined to share financial details on the deal, but said while the startup’s team of nine will join the Los Angeles-based company, Snapette’s brand and app will remain distinct.
Snapette, which says it has about 1.5 million monthly users, launched in August 2011 with a mobile app that lets users share pictures of local products that fellow users can discover nearby. In the last couple of years, it’s added partnerships with about 225 brands and retailers that pay to make their inventory and locations known to users.
Since its launch, the site has focused on local discovery — not mobile shopping — but in an effort to expand its options and add a revenue stream, co-founder and president Sarah Paiji said Snapette will add in-app purchasing for the first time later this week.
As a mobile shopping app for women’s fashion, Snapette faces plenty of competition, from newer startups, like Wanelo and Hukkster, to more established e-commerce companies like Gilt Groupe and Hautelook. But Paiji said the deal with PriceGrabber will give it access to a monthly audience of 20 million users and thousands of potential retail partners.
“We can build something with them more quickly than going it alone,” she said.
PriceGrabber (which looks like it hasn’t updated its homepage in a decade) is likely better known for its publisher relationships than its own site — it powers comparison shopping on sites like About.com, CNET, Ask.com and Yahoo Shopping. Last year, the company spun off from its previous owner Experian. With Snapette, its first acquisition since the spinoff, the company plans to make a bigger play in women’s fashion, which, historically, hasn’t been a big area of focus.
“They recognize that the way women consume fashion is very different from the way they shop for electronics and books,” said Paiji. “They could be doing more with what they have.”
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