Update: Parcel, the game-changing browser add-on service that helps you organize all the products you're eyeing online, just added two new features that make shopping the web even more enjoyable. Once you've added a product to your Parcel, the service will now alert you 1) If it is selling out fast or becomes low in stock, and 2) If it goes on sale. Alerts come via e-mail, or as a notification through the mobile app if you have it. So if you're one of those people that watches products like a hawk waiting for them to be 40% off, you can now go back to living your life. Ah, freedom.
This post was originally published on August 22, 2016.
If you're an avid online shopper like myself (meaning anytime you're on your laptop, you're scouring a collection of sites for new clothes and accessories to buy), you're familiar with what I like to refer to as "Million-Tabs Syndrome" — a.k.a. the overwhelming feeling of having way too many tabs open, all of which feature items from different retailers that you maybe, probably want to buy at some point, but aren't ready to pull the trigger on just yet. It's one of those things that can happen by accident (when you slowly come across a few cute things over the course of a day), or more deliberately (like when you're shopping for your new apartment or decide to go hard on Zara.com one Sunday night). But instead of copy-pasting all the links into a Google doc (yes, this is actually something I have done) or adding them all to your bookmarks bar (Does anyone ever really look back at those?), I've seen the light. And that light is called Parcel.
Just as its site says, it's time to "get your shit together." Not to be confused with the package-delivery startup, Parcel, cofounded by Marissa Wilson Gibbons and Matthew Jones, is an online organization tool that keeps all of your might-buy and actually bought piece in one place, ending the million-tabs curse once and for all. Similar to Pinterest, you can categorize all of your pieces into self-created boards called "parcels" (I currently have one going for Fashion Week buys). You can also set a budget for your parcel — say, if you want to spend a limit $800 on your baby's nursery — and it'll update as you add items to keep you on track.
"Consumers are browsing more than ever, trying to pull together a unique, but complementary, wardrobe," Wilson Gibbons tells Refinery29. "From that to the Marie Kondo phenomenon to the obsession with French style, I think it’s all coming from a desire to put ourselves together in a more thoughtful, cohesive, and authentic way." But to get one thing straight, the aim of Parcel isn't to sell you stuff. Instead, it's about getting organized and buying less of the things you don't love.
What I love most about Parcel, though, is that it's not a social platform, meaning it's not another feed you have to manage and there's no pressure to share your picks with friends (though our contacts at the company say this feature is coming — in case you do want to show off your wish lists). Instead, it's a way to look at everything you want in one place, so you can ditch the impulse buys and curate a cart that's filled what you really want and need.
At the moment, Parcel is still invite-only — mostly because it' just starting out and wants to do so with a targeted community that will provide open feedback and really, truly appreciate the service. But since I want you to shop as happily as I have since getting Parcel a few weeks ago, we're offering a special invite link for Refinery29 readers (you can join by clicking here). Honestly, it's near-impossible to find something negative to say about Parcel when you shop online as much as I do, so I'll step down from my soap box with this: Download it, tell your friends who need it most, and thank me later.
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