Wesabe's new recommendation service finds better competitors for the businesses you patronize
Wesabe, a company that takes your anonymized financial information from your bank-statements and uses it to figure out how you can use it to spend smarter, has just launched its "Tips" tab -- a service that automatically recommends competitors of the places you presently shop at, based on superior feedback, repeat visits and lower average spends by other Wesabe users.
Link (via Waxy)
These tips are pulled out of the billions of dollars worth of transactions that members have uploaded to Wesabe. We look at how much people spend at a merchant, how often they come back to give that merchant repeat business, and what they have to say about their satisfaction with that merchant. From these points, we build a comparison that lets you narrow in on the values in your neighborhood, and decide which merchant is best for you and your needs:In the case above, Wesabe recommended a local grocery store I’ve seen but have never been to, since I shopped at a more expensive option, Andronico’s, in my area. What’s great about this tip is that it shows me a cheaper option that also makes far more people happy. That’s great for me to know, and it may very well change where I shop.
You can also use the very rich tagging data on Wesabe to find related merchants that might be hidden values, or might be well-known to you as brands but not as economic options:
(Disclosure: I am a proud member of Wesabe's advisory board)
See also:
Wesabe API lets you hack your bank
Wesabe: community money-saving service
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This sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out when I'm not at work. My one question though is how does Wesabe make it's money? Does it sell shopping trends, consumer traffic info or something like that? Site advertising? A fee for the recommendation?
Looks very interesting. I'll have to check it out.
I'm too busy to write a useful comment right now. Maybe later when I have time, I'll write something more meaningful.
I really like Wesabe. I'd like it even more if the website worked reliably. Every time I go there I get constant timeouts and failed-to-loads and blank screens, even sometimes on static pages.
Maybe it's just me, but it makes the site almost unusable.
Sorry to get all luddite on you, but you needed a computer to tell you there's a cheaper option over andronico's?? As for it's happiness predictor, a couple of visits would have told you if it makes you happy or not.
You also might find yourself much happier if you don't shop at target, lowes, home depot, wal mart, and ikea. come to think of it, you still have a soul after going to all those places? :)
The Andronico's in the Sunset in SF is commonly referred to as Park'n'Rob. Yeah, a lemon is three dollars, but they have gardenia/fava bean ice cream!
Yeah, what Batu said! And seriously, if you need to pay a service to tell you "stay out of the trendy stores(like the Mall), develop you own style and shop for it at cheap places..."
Well, if that's the case, I need to be writing a how-to and so do a lot of other folks. Are people really that ignorant?
I'm just waiting for the inevitable "shop like a hipster while being thrifty" article.
BTW, this service isn't that spectacular.