Save Money, Save Time, Save Trees Says Salefinder

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Save Money, Save Time, Save Trees Says Salefinder

Sick of junk mail cluttering up your letterbox but worried about missing out on bargains if you put up a "no circulars" sign?

The answer to that problem is Salefinder, a new on-line Kiwi company dedicated to making shopping easier, quicker and kinder to the environment.

www.salefinder.co.nz is a unique website featuring the catalogues of major New Zealand retailers which allows shoppers to view products and prices from different stores and receive alerts about special offers and the latest brochures.

The brainchild of husband and wife team Shahid Sajjad and Mehreen Choudhary, Salefinder's motto is "save money, save time, save trees".

Already, 20 major retailers are signed up, including the likes of Farmers, Noel Leeming, Whitcoulls, Postie Plus, Pascoes, Spotlight, No. 1 Shoes and Stirling Sports.

"We came up with the idea three years ago after I got frustrated trying to find out what different retailers had on offer at the same time," says Mehreen. "I thought it would be great if there was just one place you could go on-line to find out and compare."

With a background in on-line marketing, Shahid took up the challenge, developed the Salefinder concept and, with the help of a friend in IT, created the back-end application needed to run the site.

The birth of the couple's two children, Shahaab (2) and Zahra (1), held things up for a while but www.salefinder.co.nz eventually went live in March this year.

"It's grown very quickly but, as there are two million people in New Zealand who say they like to read catalogues but worry about the environment, there is plenty of opportunities for expansion," says Shahid.

In addition to the current retailers, they want to add another 10 before Christmas and grow registered members to 50,000 by the end of the year.

"People don't have to join Salefinder to use it but, if they do, they get access to special offers and early alerts so they get the bargains first."

The couple, and several private investors, own Salefinder and are considering taking the concept off-shore.

"Customers love it because they can quickly and easily check out products and prices - and help the environment at the same time.

"And retailers love it because it is a highly measurable marketing tool. We give them regular feedback on which categories are most viewed, the most popular products at any given time and other very valuable sales information," says Shahid.

Currently, more women than men are accessing Salefinder and the most popular items are electronics and appliances but they expect that could change leading into Christmas.

ENDS

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