{"id":1719,"date":"2015-10-30T09:54:44","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T13:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/the-hunt-crowdsourcing-solution-for-fashion-missed-connections\/"},"modified":"2015-10-30T09:58:27","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T13:58:27","slug":"the-hunt-crowdsourcing-solutions-for-fashion-missed-connections","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/the-hunt-crowdsourcing-solutions-for-fashion-missed-connections\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hunt: Crowdsourcing Solutions for Fashion Missed-Connections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, I was sitting by the window at Gramercy Tavern waiting for a couple of friends to show up for dinner.\u00a0 While waiting, I happened to notice a lady walk by with a very cute cropped turtleneck on and I thought, \u201cthat\u2019s a very nice top, I want that.\u201d Later that night, I remembered the turtleneck and I went to my computer and googled something like \u201cstriped crop sweater funnel neck.\u201d\u00a0 I did an additional search on Polyvore and ShopStyle, and while my search returned hundreds of similar striped tops, the exact<\/strong> top never showed up \u2013 the fit and shape on the top had been very different and I was interested in finding the top I had seen in person specifically.\u00a0 After modifying my search phrase a few times, I finally came across an image of the top on an Australian fashion blogger \u2013 but no link to where I could actually purchase the item (her blog post that had the top in it was more a feature about the purse in the picture).<\/p>\n

My personal example is probably some version of a relatively common frustration that many individuals experience \u2013 certainly for women who take lots of fashion cues from their every day environment.\u00a0 Rarely, however, do individuals chase down others to ask \u201cwhere did you get that shirt?\u201d<\/p>\n

Enter The Hunt \u2013 or as I like to call it, the crowdsourcing platform\/app for fashion missed-connections. The Hunt is a useful little tool geared towards \"Screen<\/a>individual who are searching for a specific or \u201csimilar-to\u201d item; while the app is primarily used for stalking down clothing items, the tool can also be used for various other accessories, home goods, etc.\u00a0 Rather than rely on Google or ShopStyle, The Hunt harnesses the power of user-generated product finds.\u00a0 Members can post images of products they would like to buy, and other users will help them hunt down where the product is actually sold.\u00a0 With over 4 million users and 3 million \u201chunts\u201d started each week, approximately 50% of all hunts on the platform are \u201csolved\u201d within 24 hours.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Value Creation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Hunt keeps its value proposition relatively straightforward:\u00a0 this app helps you purchase that great dress you saw in person or that you saw while scrolling on Instagram, Tumblr, etc.\u00a0 The Hunt creates value through it\u2019s ability to cater to a variety of purchasing needs and motivations; whether a user is searching for a similar or exact item match or a user who simply loves helping others find great deals, The Hunt provides that extra human touch that one could argue eludes complicated, algorithm based search results from Google and other engines.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Community Incentives<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tim Weingarten has been very vocal about the fact that he believes the key to a successful crowdsourcing community like The Hunt is an underlying intrinsic motivation behind each participant to actually spend time and help others find things to wear. “A lot of entrepreneurs would assume that if you pay people or give them cuts of the action or you make economic incentives that will help you build a community faster and will get people to do whatever you want them to do–sell things, buy things, create content, whatever,” he says. “We strongly believe that extrinsic motivations will backfire and that the most long-term sustainable franchises are built off of intrinsic motivation.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Growth, Challenges & Value Capture<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since its start in 2011, The Hunt has branched out into \u201crelated\u201d activities.\u00a0 Users can poll the community for real-time advice (e.g. \u201cdo you like shirt A or shirt B more?\u201d or \u201cdoes this outfit look good on me?\u201d).\u00a0 While I imagine individuals are less prone to utilize the platform for opinions compared to \"The<\/a>the deal-finding services (indeed there seem to be less posts\/engagement\u00a0in the “Help Style Me” category), I would also guess that The Hunt\u2019s established community makes it easier for customers to entertain the idea of these related services — especially compared to other now-shuttered startups (GoTryItOn, Fashism, etc.) that focused solely on these \u201copinion-crowdsourcing services\u201d from the start.\u00a0 The Hunt has focused on fostering strong community ties where individual trust can be built through helping users solve their \u201chunts\u201d and through referring them to product they want.\u00a0 While the outcome remains to be seen, establishing this base-level of community trust should on some level help The Hunt avoid the market-for-lemons challenge its earlier predecessors where community opinions were maybe not trusted or valued by individual users.<\/p>\n

Probably more pressing, but certainly less unique, is the fact that The Hunt will need to figure out how to generate revenue.\u00a0 Aside from the same big data\/consumer insight angle, an affiliate model will only take them so far as the primary point of The Hunt is not to sell the user product but to help her solve a problem \u2013 key for establishing credibility and continuing to build up its user base.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I first saw you crossing the street on 20th and Park by Gramercy Tavern. You were cropped and long sleeved with black and white stripes — possibly cashmere. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":1720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[673,732,647],"class_list":["post-1719","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crowdsourcing","category-missedconnections","category-retail"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/assignment\/leveraging-the-collective-intelligence-and-effort-of-digital-crowds\/","yoast_head":"\nThe Hunt: Crowdsourcing Solutions for Fashion Missed-Connections - Digital Innovation and Transformation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/the-hunt-crowdsourcing-solutions-for-fashion-missed-connections\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Hunt: Crowdsourcing Solutions for Fashion Missed-Connections - Digital Innovation and Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I first saw you crossing the street on 20th and Park by Gramercy Tavern. 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