1. Greenville-based tech entrepreneurs,Laura Wedell-Jenkins and Gabe Jenkins, in partnership with
Rapptor Studios, are launching a crowdsourcing app helps users save time when deciding when and
where to shop for items that are in short supply. BēKin (pronounced “beacon”,encouraging users to “be
kin”). The free app provides up-to-the-minute information about product availability in local stores.
partnership is launching a new app that helps shoppers locate the items they seek at local retailers.
With just a few clicks, relying upon up-to-the-minute information provided by other BēKin users,the app
informs which items are in-stock, running low or completely out at local retailers, all color coded in easy
to read, green, yellow and red indicators. The app also includes a camera function, allowing people to
share pictures of product availability. BēKin users can report on an unlimited amount of items at a range
of local businesses, including supermarkets, gas stations, electronics stores,and even food banks and
bakeries, about what’s in stock.
The app creates a completely new platform for retailors to communicate with the public and for shoppers
to communicate with others in their immediate community. Wedell-Jenkins came up with the app idea
before a winter storm was predicted to cover the Upstate with one inch of snow. “I was at my local
grocery store at 6PM and noticed milk was already running low. Even after I had left the store, SUVs
were steadily streaming into the parking lot. Knowing that the milk would soon be out at this particular
super market, I thought, ‘There should be an app for that.’
BēKin will play a special role during natural disasters, when people are looking for the same goods such
as bottled water,ice, fuel, and batteries. BēKin will shed light on where to find the items that nearly
everyone will need. Wedell-Jenkins said, “I think the primary focus on the future of shopping has been
online. What the people in Silicon Valley have forgotten is that we live in communities. We buy food,
most household items and fuel at local retailers.”
Jenkins further added that the app has further international uses. “In the United States,our distribution
systems are highly efficient. Most of the year, we enjoy fully stocked shelves but one hurricane in the
Gulf, for example, can not only impact the availability of everyday goods along the coast but also fuel
supplies throughout the entire region. Furthermore, for the rest of the world, shortages are an everyday
occurrence. As people turn shopping into a communal activity, we intend to forever change the way
people shop.”
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