Boxes Is a Find For Collectors

Boxes started out an idea to help people organize their stuff in a really sleek and easy-to-use to design.  What it’s turned out to be, however, is social network for collectors and fashionistas, plus a whole lot more.

The iOS app, which officially launched last summer, allows you to catalogue all of your items in an interface that connects through social sites Facebook and Twitter.  As a result, photos of items like shoes can be shared and viewed by people in your circle.  The company is also building an e-commerce platform (expected to launch in a few months) so you can sell your items as well.

The app was first touted as a way to organize all of your items but quickly became a godsend for collectors.

“Collectors are our biggest users–the consensus is that they love it for organizing and keeping track of their stuff, and folks can meet each other that share their same interests and passions from all over the world,” said CEO and Founder Solomon Engel.  “We create this experience for them that is very comparible to going to a physical meetup, going to a trade show, a convention.”

Engel said that collectors post everything from shoe collections to antiques and love the social aspect of the app.

“We are the only place in the digital world where we can bring that experience to them that’s comparable to that physical meet up, that social experience,” Engel said.

To app feels like an Instagram for organization with a clean, streamlined look.  To start cataloging, simply click ‘Add Item’ from the main menu, take a photo, and then apply optional filters.  After you take a picture, you can add it to a category and create your own “box” to put it in.  The app also gives you the ability to set a price and sell it to other Box users or through eBay.

The company is planning to launch its own e-commerce platform in a few months that will enable users to actually make the transaction over the app.  Currently, the app is integrated with eBay so you can sell your goods in that marketplace with a swipe of your finger.

Aside from collectors, the app is also heavily being used by museums to promote their exhibits and by people interested in fashion to catalogue all of their shoes, handbags and designer duds.  Engel was most surprised by the amount of retail stores that are using Boxes to manage their inventory.

“Retailers-actual shops are using the app to take full inventory of all their products in their store,” Engel said.  “We didn’t think that was going to be the case.”

The app has so many uses that my mind was abuzz of all the ways I could use it.  Boxes definitely fills a void that is currently being filled by a number of apps and websites mashed together.

For example, Facebook is constantly being used in ways that it wasn’t designed for like posting items for sale within a local community network.  Boxes would take that archaic Facebook Feed process and turn it into a completely user-friendly and convenient process.

“Facebook is a social platform ultimately at the core; our app has been designed around items, around letting people organize their items, keep track of their items, and we built social on top of that,” Engel said.  “So the experience is dynamic and very different than what you’ll have on Facebook.”