The union of social media (Facebook) and online blogshops have produced an offspring- Hallways.
Hallways is the brainchild of Yong Yi Sung. He envisioned a platform that would allow anyone who wants to sell anything, create and establish a brand name in a social setting, ultimately making shopping fun for the user, and making the shops profitable for their owners.
Currently, Hallways is still in the closed beta stage. There are still some bugs that need to be addressed and the shipping and payment methods have to be readied. It is expected that everything should be up and running in three to four weeks.
Review
I was lucky enough to be given a chance to try out the closed beta version of Hallways.
Good points
- Clean interface that is easy to navigate.
- Creation of shops is fast, easy and more importantly, free.
- Ties to Facebook, including all friends as potential customers.
- Clear categories to enable easy navigation and search.
- Front page has special categories to place shops in spotlight as featured shops.
- Add multiple address option which makes checking out easier. No need for repeated filling in of fields.
- Comments field available.
Not so good points
- Clicking on icons featured on the front page leads to either an item on sale or a shop. No consistency making it confusing.
- Relatively boring design that could be much improved.
- Prices quoted are not in one standard currency.
e27 had an email interview with Sung.
How did the idea for Hallways come about?
Facebook tags of people trying to sell stuff and promoting their ‘brands’ online were causing us a lot of stress (the notifications were a bitch..)
Who are the target users of Hallways? How are they going to be targeted?
Target users will be everybody who wants to buy and sell stuff. We expect a lot of Hallways shops to be from the same blog and facebook shops crowd. We are also targeting the flea markets (starting in Singapore) to bring them online. In two weeks time, we hope to be seen in the local flea markets, helping our first wave of users set up an online shop on the spot, and designing their logos/brands for them too.
I realise that Hallways is very similar in concept to Clozette. You have already mentioned the difference between Hallways and eBay and others in the FAQ but with such a similar start-up, what might your strengths be/ any defining characteristics or approaches?
Clozette has a very different approach to ‘social’. Same goes for eBay and others. Hallways as a social marketplace does the following:
- Easy creation of shops – We help users set up a store in a blink, with the emphasis on their shops – a brand name of their own to promote and sell stuff
- Organization – the landing page / homepage is organized in an iTunes app store fashion which sorts items and shops by trending, top sellers/shops – all these are determined by what users have been selling and buying
- It’s way more fun and cooler to shop like this – like the app store – shopping behavior here is also affected by social patterns.
- Connections/recommendations – By using Facebook logins, you’ll be able to see what shops your friends have opened up in Facebook. Likes, sharing and even comments will be published back to Facebook/Twitter and you can see what your friends/friends-of-friends think about that shop or item; You can follow your shops to get updates and reminders when some cool item has been uploaded.
Are there any special features that we should know about?
The homepage of Hallways is designed to be interactive and engaging; besides that we are in the process of implementing (will be up and running before our official launch), a tagging system – for users (shops and buyers), buyers will be able to type in the search bar: “A cool shirt for prom” and relevant listings (based on the tags) will be shown.
So Hallways is currently in closed beta. What are some future plans you have for Hallways that we can anticipate after launch?
In the pipeline we have the following:
- Customizable storefronts: shops can change their storefront layout, colors, fonts, etc.
- Custom URLs for shops
- Custom newsletters that will be sent out on behalf of the shops (based on followers and following)
On a side note, we have two other projects (hint: social bookmarks and a local search review system) that everyone should look forward to.
What can we do to try out Hallways before it is launched to the public?
The first 50 people to head over here after reading the article will be included in our next wave of beta testing (with many juicy updates)!
e27 urges you to head over and try it out if you are interested.
Link to full article
