Looking for the Best Price? Hukkster Helps You Score the Deals

From left to right, Hukkster’s Katie Finnegan, stylist Patricia Fields and Hukkster’s Erica Bell at New York Fashion Week  (photo Catherine Haydock)

Here are The Recessionista our epic quest is always to find the best for less.  No fashion, no travel deal or beauty product is exempt from our exhaustive search.  Even if it’s a luxury item, we will spend hours researching any potential savings.  That’s why we are fascinated with Hukkster. Hukkster is both a mobile app  and a website. By shopping via Hukkster, you can set up alerts so that  when the items you covet go on sale,  you will receive an alert on the items you are watching.  Then, if the price is right, you can hit the buy button.  It’s an ingenious idea and something that I have been doing manually for a long time using online tools like PriceGrabber, Frugalytics and NextTag to name a few.   So the thought of getting sale alerts from one convenient source via mobile or email is compelling to say the least.   We had the opportunity to meet with the Hukkster team, founders Katie Finnegan & Erica Bell, plus stylist Patricia Fields, at the recent New York Fashion Week.  By talking to the experts, we got the 411 on how this app works to help you get the best deals.  Read on to find out how to get the savings.

My Hukkster Watch List: Marc Jacobs Bag & House of Holland Dress. I receive alerts if price drops by 50%.

Tell us how you can target items you lust for with the Hukkster App, and get a notification when it falls to the price you are willing to pay? Does the user give the app a range of acceptable prices?
So the way the site works,  is that you shop as you normally shop. You still go to JCrew or Bloomingdales or Macy’s. And we are a little button on your browser, and then you click that button – a lot of your readers are familiar with Pinterest, similar to a Pin It button, well we say you “HUKK it.” So you click that button and save it.

“We track it down to the size and color, “says Erica Bell. “So for a specific item, we are not going to tell you about extra large if you are a medium.”

Does the user give the app a range of acceptable prices?
“The way we built it today, based off our retail knowledge, is you can say ‘any sale’, ‘at least 25% off’ or ‘at least 50% off’, and that’s based on analytics as to when retailers mark things down, that first mark down is usually 25-35% off so we wanted to make sure you weren’t missing out, but just so you know”, notes Katie. “If you select 25% off, we will tell you that it is 20% off because we don’t want you to miss out, ” adds Erica Bell.

How soon after the item goes on sale, does the user get notified?
Our average is 10 – 15 days after you HUKK for a notice. Around the Holidays it’s so crazy so you are missing out if you don’t have items on sales trigger.

How many merchants are participating in Hukkster? There is way more than fashion on offer! Even Home Depot is representin’ 🙂
“Apparel is the main category, then footware and accessories, but then as Pat’s love of shopping for home goods grows,we offer appliances, electronics, the whole gamet, (literally)  100’s of retailers, ” says co-founder Katie Finnegan.

“We see  women shopping at Macy’s,  ShopBop,  Bloomingdales and then going to Amazon for her headphones, ” adds Erica.

Can you name some of the top designer deals Hukkster can find that  The Recessionista readers would love?
From Katie, “Top retailers that our customers shop at ShopBop, Piperline, The Gap is huge, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Saks.”
From Patricia Fields ” It covers everybody, designers, juniors, seniors – all sizes including big size, long size, petite.”

How did stylist Patricia Fields get involved? Does she curate items?

“They approached me told me their concept and I said, “Cool, I like it, I want to do it, ” Patricia Fields notes. “I will continue to curate as long as they call me I will be there.”

“Actually, available on the site right now are all the items that Pat has curated for these  fashion shows (Hukkster’s fashion demonstrations at New York Fashion Week, not the runway shows.), interjects Katie. ” You can log onto our site see them, and buy them or HUKK them.”

Have you checked out Hukkster yet readers? Since it’s a free tool, in my opinion, it’s very worthwhile.   There is a good mix of luxury fashion (Burberry) and inexpensive retailers (H&M, ZARA and UNIQLO) on the Hukkster shopping list. I also like the home section.

I am about to remodel my kitchen due to water damage, it’s very helpful to have the ability to see items from Home Depot, Restoration Hardware and even Anthropolgie that I like, but which I can only afford, if they go on sale.  Hukkster gives you the inside scoop on the sales, automating the process, and making it easier to enjoy the best for less.  It’s a great mix of shopping and technology coming together to help consumers.

If you check it out, leave a comment and let me know what you think.