With sales down in the retail world, companies across the web are finding ways to change the way we shop.  The social shopping experience is quickly snagging up VC money.  Just last year ThisNext, raised $5 million for its social approach to online shopping.  To top it off, Kaboodle, another social shopping site, sold to Hearst Corporation for $30 million in 2007. Fantzer, is following the same road of success.   

Fantzer,Inc., based out of Collinsville, Connecticut, has raised $2 million for its celebrity themed social shopping site, Coolspotters. The site sets out to discover what products, brands, and fashions are being used by celebrities.

Clearly sticking to its entertainment industry roots, Walt Disney’s venture capital arm, Steamboat Ventures, led the investment round.

A quick example of how Coolspotters works starts with a headline like, “Cameron Diaz uses an Apple MacBook Air." This headline carries a paparazzi type image with the evidence of Diaz and her laptop to prove she actually uses the MacBook, and right next to it, you can easily click a link to go buy yourself the same exact model.  Adding a social element, this news was spotted by Barmaid, a user from Canada who’s profile you can check out to see what other celebrity product discoveries she’s made. 

This service puts products in context with the celebrities who usethem.  It’s almost like a way around spending the big bucks to have celebrities endorse consumer products. 

As forthe future of Fanzter, which was founded in 2007 – they are working on a new product titled ‘Simple Sports.’  Fanzter hasn’t disclosed exactly what the product is, but my obvious guess would be something similar to Coolspotters, but with a sports theme.