Chegg (as in 'chicken & egg'), a local student classifieds website, announced today a service called Hatch that offers steeply discounted products to college students across the United States.
The service is a first-come, first-serve marketplace where students can purchase popular products at a discount in limited quantities a few times a week. The first ten Hatch offers will include quantities of the Nintendo Wii, Canon PowerShot, World of Warcraft, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, iPod accessories, high-end blenders and other crowd-pleasers. The first widely-available Hatch launches tomorrow, January 31.
Each day's Hatch will remain under cover until it launches at 10 a.m. Pacific time. Depending on its popularity, an item may hatch multiple times during the day to give students in all time zones access to the discount. In a trial run of the program, a Hatch of 25 iPod nanos sold out in the first two-and-a-half minutes. Chegg will announce subsequent Hatches on http://www.chegg.com the day before the hatch.
Chegg.com started as a classified site used by students to trade and exchange used textbooks with others their campuses. It has expanded to include categories for other student lifestyle items, such as computers and furniture, and to include discounted new textbooks.
"Chegg is not just about classifieds. We're about positively impacting every facet of students' daily lives, whether it means providing access to cool, affordable stuff or connecting them with another student to buy a used chemistry textbook," said Osman Rashid, CEO and co-founder of Chegg.
In addition to offering students discounted products, Chegg's Hatch helps retailers gain valuable feedback from 18 to 24 year olds. To participate in the service, students answer a brief questionnaire that helps retailers understand their preferences. Chegg ensures all users that only broad demographic opinions (e.g., what do 18 year olds think about Wii vs. PlayStation or Xbox) are tracked and that all individual data is kept secure under Chegg's privacy policy.
To participate in the Hatch of the Day, students must have a university (.edu) email account or attend schools that Chegg has pre-approved for other email types.
"Only college students can purchase Hatched products. That's what helps keep it unique and valuable," said Aayush Phumbhra, co-founder and vice president of campus operations at Chegg.
Retailers can join the Hatch partner program to request that Chegg add their products to the Hatch roster. Visit http://www.chegg.com/chpp for more details.
About Chegg
Chegg, Inc., is a local student classifieds company where students meet to buy and sell things they need while in college. Chegg has been online since 2003 and was incorporated in 2005. Chegg is now available at more than 2000 campuses across the US. Chegg users put millions of dollars of product on the website every semester. Chegg is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA.
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