Wishberg launches Shop Mobs; Online users can now get together and negotiate with brands

Mumbai based Wishberg, a Wishlist for life where people can share and discover wishes online has launched ShopMobs today. Founded by Kulin Shah and Pravin Jadhav, the startup has gained traction within India and more than 2,30,000 wishes have been shared (read our earlier coverage).

What are Shop Mobs?

Shop Mobs are meetups with people in your city who share similar wishes with you and can buy with you. The idea is to get people sharing the same wishes meetup offline and negotiate with the brand. This snapshot of an ongoing shop mob is rather alluring:

The Shop Mobs are currently for Mumbai (Mumbai, Thane & Navi Mumbai) and Bangalore. They are programmed in a way to open for all cities when the number of users from any particular city will reach a threshold number that varies for every city. On reaching that number, shop mobs will be unlocked.

The people with the same interests can get together and then approach the brands as per their negotiation power. A shop mob for iPad might not materialize but can prove to be a powerful tool in other cases like tours for traveling or even vehicles.

The Inspiration

"We were inspired by Cash Mobs (in US) and Tuangou (in China). Another inspiration - few years back in India, few people got together in Aurangabad & Kolhapur to buy multiples cars in one go - 150 Mercedes Benz cars; 101 BMWs and another 180 Mercedes Benz cars," write Wishberg on their blog.

There is no monetary transaction involved from Wishberg's site but the motive is to increase traction and translate online engagement into the offline world as well.

More about how Shop Mobs work on their blog and if you aren't already a part of Wishberg, register on the site.