Surf, post, buy!

Jeena Sharma, a freelance fashion writer, desperately wanted to buy a pair of orange wedge heels from Alexa Wagner that she had seen on a fashion website. But her search led to no avail, till she stumbled onto Gloop.in while surfing the Internet. "I was looking through some interesting posts and saw a picture of the shoe that I wanted. I clicked on it and got all the information about where I could find it in India,"says Sharma.

A box drawer designed by a Delhi-based Architect Ashiesh Shah

Gloop.in is a new social networking website launched last month where one can register for free and post a photograph of a lifestyle product or a certain place he or she has visited. Consequently anyone who is looking out for that particular product or wants to visit the place, can register themselves on the site, key in what they are looking for and get all the information by clicking on the photo that crops up.

Gloop.in is founded by a 31-year-old Ananya Lodaya, who stayed in the US for eight years and returned to her hometown in Pune a few years ago. She says, "After living abroad, when I returned to India, I would crave for my favourite products such as a sulphate-free shampoo or a jumbo-size cupcake when I came to India."

The constant hunt prompted her to start a website that would serve as a repository of information for consumers. Lodaya explains, "These products are available in India, but very few people know about it. Gloop.in works as a social networking site as well as a search-optimise engine."

Lodaya, an MBA from Harvard Business School, launched a Facebook page called Concierge India six months ago as a test drive for Gloop.in. "Concierge India helped people find unique products and services in India. It was a huge success. We used to get more than 1000 posts every day. It became difficult to handle so much traffic and we eventually had to shut it," laughs Lodaya.

Gloop.in features the likes of Rahul da Cunha, Nisha Jamvwal and Zeba Kohli who regularly post interesting pictures of a product or service, that they have found on the website. Lodaya says, "It's great to get so much support from well-known personalities. It lends us a good amount of credibility."

Lodaya hopes that Gloop.in will get a good response and has already made some plans for the future. "In the long run, I want to have a separate mobile app for our website and also enable vendors to retail their products," she signs off.