We don’t talk about it much, but last year Nokia asked us if we were interested in working with them to develop ShopSavvy for Symbian. We weren’t very interested as we assumed Symbian was going way, but Nokia was persistent and agreed to provide the all of the resources necessary to complete the project. Without much fanfare we released ShopSavvy on Nokia and assumed ‘that was that’. Around the same time we released ShopSavvy on Windows Phone 7 – ironically both Microsoft and Nokia funded this project together. Want to guess which app is doing better? ShopSavvy ranks in the top 10-20 on each platform – but we get 10X the number of downloads each day on Symbian than we do on Windows Phone 7. It is nuts.

This morning I read on Pingdom that “Symbian is still top mobile OS – finished 2011 with resurgence“. Suddenly our success on Symbian made perfect sense. Symbian is still growing – and its installed base is HUGE. Take a look:

We were pulling data out of ShopSavvy during the holidays and several folks ran this infographic we put together. Did you see it? Did we get it right?

Periodically we poll our users about their experiences with our app. This week we asked a statistically relevant number of users how they were using ShopSavvy this week and one answer surprised us. Evidently some users (about 14%) are scanning the items they received for Christmas to a) determine how much their family and friends spent and b) determine which store has the highest price so that they can return and get the most bang for their buck. Of course, we do not condone this sort of behavior, but thought it was worth sharing. Our scan volume on Christmas Day was huge – almost 3X bigger than any normal shopping day – despite most stores being closed. We were wondering what was going on – now we know. Remember it isn’t the cost of the gift, but the thought that counts…

Typically, the day after Christmas is the third biggest shopping day of the year. This year it was the second biggest shopping day of the year (almost as big as Black Friday). This could either be good news (i.e. increased sales) or bad news (i.e. increased returns).

Image via CrunchBase

The recent move by Amazon to offer $5 for retail shoppers to buy online felt like kicking a man twice when he was already down to a lot of retailers.  Many merchants were already concerned about being used as a glorified showroom for Amazon’s Jeff Bezos before this recent move with speculation that many were missing their numbers because of Amazons mobile price check application.

Here at ShopSavvy we love local merchants.   Our users want to know what all their options are both online and local presented in a neutral and unbiased way— not just merchants in Amazon’s marketplace.  They want this presented without favoritism so they can make good buying decisions about product selection and where to buy.  Buying from Amazon is great and for many habitual, but did you know in our system they are the lowest priced choice only 7% of the time? If you buy from Amazon, you are not always getting the best deal and they certainly don’t work to get you local options.

Even when the price is lower online, our users often want to see what their local options are, either for immediate gratification or because they love the relationship they have with their local retailer.  In the long run we believe a balanced ecosystem of strong local retail with efficient online options is healthiest and this is what we strive for.

So while local stores have had a really brutal few years, this is going to change in the next few years as they get new opportunities to fight back.  In fact, we think current shopping experience for local retail is going to be transformed significantly in the next 3-5 years.   The mini computers people are carrying in their hands now are just using things like reviews, purchasing and price comparison as an early beachhead.  In a few years the way you shop locally will be completely different.

Why? Whole new conversations will be starting between brands, retailers and shoppers will transform retail and the shopping experience making it more connected (with friends/family), informed and enjoyable.  This will dramatically improve the local shopping experience and give local merchants new ways to offer value relative to online options that may not be readily apparent now.

Consumers are open to new sorts of conversations with retailers that are not happening now.  For example, currently most conversations between retailers and consumers now are what I call “One to Many”.  If you offer a sale, it’s often to large groups of people and there is very little segmentation or targeting.   With these new technologies based on loyalty data, buying patterns, and strategies such as competitive couponing, consumers will start to have one to one conversations with retailers.

The last decade or so has not been a great one for local retailers, but  the tide is changing with advances in technology.  Ironically, the technology that is causing pain for local retailers now, will offer new opportunities in the future.  For the those retailers that embrace this change, and get ahead of the curve, we believe it’s a competitive opportunity to recapture some lost ground and create a better shopping experience for shoppers.  This takes courage not to stick your head in the sand while Amazon steals your lunch.

To that end, if you are a local retailer that is looking to find ways to start new conversations with consumers in your stores—reach out to us –we’re listening and open to new ideas to help local merchants.  Amazon doesn’t have the last word here, this is just the beginning of what technology can bring to local.

In the early 90′s I was a member of the United States Marine Corps. Since then I have been a big supporter of the USMC Toys for Tots program. Earlier this year I decided to use ALL of our remnant ad inventory to promote the program. Since the start of the holiday season millions of shoppers have seen our Toys for Tots promotion – around 140,000 shoppers each day. The program, combined with our integrated wallet, makes it VERY easy for shoppers to contribute. We recommended several toys available for immediate purchase with our wallet – once purchased by a ShopSavvy user we automatically ship the products to a Toys for Tots distribution facility. There isn’t much time left, toys ordered in the next two days will make it in time for Christmas. Here is what the screens look like: