The community shopping search engine helps neighbors shop local smarter by shortening the distance between people and products they want to buy in one click.
In the private Facebook group, tens of thousands of local members post sightings of hard-to-find products during cyclical life events, from a last-minute Valentine's Day gift to a turkey the night before Thanksgiving to bottled water availabilities during the 2021 Memphis water crisis, caused by a snow storm that led to pipe bursts.
When shoppers need a consumer good, they can search sightings from fellow shoppers, small businesses, brands and retailers to find the product nearby or connect with online catalogs to buy from internet product links. Members can literally one-stop-shop to get their best shot at finding what they need.
The platform prototype emerged from the viral success of the local, word-of-mouth Facebook group created at the start of the pandemic to help members find essential items.
In April 2020, three sisters from New Rochelle, New York developed the initial concept, after New York's Patient #1 turned their hometown into the state's Ground Zero for COVID-19.
As the families of Aurora, Johnita and Kontji Anthony faced supply chain challenges along with the rest of the world, Kontji launched the Product Sightings Facebook group where she now lives in Memphis, Tennessee. Users began tracking Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in real time to crowdsource essential product availability and increase everyone’s chances of locating products to protect their families.
The sisters were encouraged to turn the idea into an app with the goal to allow neighbors around the nation to experience the organic magic of the gamified shopping utility.
Hundreds of beta testers from the 34,000-member Facebook group have signed up for the waiting list to test the upcoming Youdle app.
Email info@getyoudle.com to become a beta tester when the app is released October 1.
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