KMTV-CBS recently featured ShopSavvy as their Holiday App of the Day, sharing the perks of downloading the app to find the lowest prices both in-store and online. It’s the perfect way to knock out that holiday shopping list and be confident that you got the best deal.
Check out the news clip below!
Last week ShopSavvy was featured on Anderson Cooper Live as one of the best money-saving apps. Andrea Smith, Lifestyle Editor for Mashable.com, demonstrated the app and talked about the unique features available for shoppers to use on their smartphone. “That’s a great idea,” said Anderson Cooper and we couldn’t agree more!
For more information on ShopSavvy or to download, visit iTunes.com/ShopSavvy.
As summer break draws to a close, consumers are feeling the back-to-school shopping heat. This WBTV news report shows how consumers are turning to ShopSavvy to find the lowest prices on the items they need.
This particular mother/daughter duo in North Carolina managed to find a pair of boots at Marshalls for less than half of the online price! We’re happy to support local retailers by showing the consumers their amazing deals and ultimately help shoppers save money.
Cincinnati shoppers are also using ShopSavvy to compare school supply prices. Check us out on WCPO here!
ShopSavvy was recently featured on HLN-TV as one of Clark’s Consumer Tips for saving money this summer. Check it out!
ShopSavvy provides mobile shoppers with the lowest prices, no matter the retailer. This KCRA Sacramento reporter scanned a pair of sandals and was surprised to learn they were cheaper in the small Sacramento retail store than they were on Amazon. She was able to skip the shipping wait and purchase the shoes on the spot. We’re always happy to support local retailers like Pink House Boutique.
Since Eduardo Saverin, the other Facebook co-founder, invested in ShopSavvy reporters have been calling non-stop. Every week one or more reporters will call or email trying to get an interview with him. While I can’t confirm or deny the reports you may have read about the elusive entrepreneurs and investor, I can tell you having Eduardo on the team is VERY valuable. Eduardo is very connected and has made several very valuable connections in the short time he has been on the ShopSavvy team. Of course there are other benefits, for example, whenever Eduardo’s investment in ShopSavvy is mentioned in he press as it was today in the WSJ our downloads, which range between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 each month, can double for the day. Eduardo has a unique vision with regard to mobile and retail – a vision we share. He is attempting to monetize that vision through several very targeted investments including ShopSavvy and Jumio. I wouldn’t take his strategy lightly and I wouldn’t believe everything I read in the New York Post.
Note to Reporters: we do not manage Eduardo’s calendar, but feel free to keep calling – we’ll take all the PR we can get.
If you are a student of retail you are well aware of the phenomenon called ‘showrooming’. According to a study by Pew 52% of shoppers used their smartphone to perform research while standing in retail stores – more than 19% convert their offline/in-store purchase to an online retailer. We believe retailers should not fear showrooming – instead they should embrace it sooner than later.
The ShopSavvy team works with almost every major brick and mortar retailer as well as lots of online retailers – more than 40,000 in total. We began hearing concerns about ‘showrooming’ more than two years ago. In fact, as recently as last week I was in London speaking at the Rutberg Summit and half of the audience questions were about the topic of showrooming. Some of the other panelists recommended various ‘answers’ to the phenomenon including:
When we talk to retailers we try to help them understand that showrooming might be a great way to grow their own business. First, we begin by explaining that at any given moment MORE shoppers are in their competitors stores than in their own retail locations. Here are some interesting figures:
What if a retailer like Best Buy could start a conversation with the shoppers in the 43,810 locations they don’t own? ShopSavvy can provide a set of rails that enable a retailer to start a conversation with a consumer at the point of purchase both inside and outside of their own retail store locations.
Once retailers began realizing that showrooming wasn’t just a game to be played by Amazon they began looking for solutions. With more than 40,000,000 downloads, ShopSavvy is a great way to connect with shoppers who are VERY deep in the purchase funnel – we know which store they are in and what product they are about to purchase. Last year we launched ShopSavvy Wallet that enabled one-slide purchases from shoppers – they simply scan a product and without leaving the app they can pay for the item with a simple swipe of their finger. We have built wallet adapters with leading brick and mortar retailers like Barnes & Nobel, Walmart, Target, Toys ‘R’ Us, RadioShack, Dick’s Sporting Goods, GNC, Macy’s, JCPenny, Office Depot, Lowe’s, OfficeMax and Nordstrom – a total of 64 retailers to date. The feature allows each to leverage the showrooms of their competitors.
Some retailers play fair – just displaying their pricing in our app and offering a quick and easy way to convert a purchase from offline to online. Other retailers leverage information provided by ShopSavvy – capturing the business of the sort of shoppers who are the most profitable. Barnes & Nobel is a perfect example of a retailer who is skillfully leveraging ShopSavvy.
Barnes & Nobel sells books at two very different price points. In their stores they sell books at a 10% discount to members. On their website they sell books at prices that are often less than Amazon’s prices (our data shows that Amazon only has the best price about 6% of the time, meaning that 94% of the time other retailers offer a better deal). Whenever shoppers scan the barcodes of books in any one of the 32,050 bookstores not own by Barnes & Nobel they see the online price which is almost always significantly less than the price offered by the retailer whose store they are standing in. Our data shows that shoppers first scan is almost always going to be purchased from their current location – the second and third scan is VERY vulnerable to capture. The most interesting bit of data we uncovered was that when B&N did convert the sale, 30% of the converted shoppers showed up in Barnes & Nobel and scanned a product within 30 days. B&N was able to convince the consumer to show up in their store to buy books instead of the original bookseller’s store.
Retailers who leverage an omni-channel approach as well as applications like ShopSavvy can reach far more shoppers than their own retail locations can alone. Start a conversation where the consumer is, not where you wish he was.
The Grand Bazaar is located deep inside of the walled city of Istanbul. Founded in 1455, it is the largest and oldest covered markets in the world with more than 61 covered streets and 3,000 shops attracting more than 250,000 visitors each day. It might seem strange to look back to a 15th century shopping experience to point to the future of retail, but we believe retail is headed ‘back to the future’.
Many retail watchers are beginning to realize that in-store experiences are too linear and too one dimensional. Today shoppers enter retail stores and see the same products for the same prices every other shopper experiences. We believe that retailers who strive to create specialized experiences will see their share of consumer spending increase.
For hundreds of years shoppers in the Grand Bazaar have experienced a unique 1-on-1 conversation with retailers. With more than 3,000 shops competing for the same shoppers you might assume everything would come down to price. You would be wrong. If you stopped watching the retailers and started watching the shoppers you would begin to see order out of the chaos. Take for example the throngs of designer-clad women holding their designer Chanel and Hermes bags as they weave purposefully through the narrow streets and aisles. If you watch closely you will see them disappear through certain shop’s ‘anonymous portals‘, Inside they are able to find the best of the best in designer merchandise delivered in a highly personalized and intimate manner. These ‘in the know’ shoppers have discovered an exclusive shopping experience that isn’t available to just anyone. Coupled with the exclusive nature of the experience the retailer has added a second, important, ingredient: scarcity. Think of these retail experiences as ‘highly curated’ for these ‘in the know’ shoppers (designers, buyers, locals, stars and moguls).
Smart retailers can begin to leverage the ingredients of the Bazaar to begin to start 1-on-1 conversations with today’s highly connected consumer. These conversations don’t have to be about price. For example Macy’s CEO, Terry Lundgren, is in the process of remaking his storied retail brand. Last year ShopSavvy licensed it’s scanner technology to Macy’s for the development of their Backstage Pass program – touted as a way to ‘Shop like a VIP with Macy’s Backstage Pass’. Shoppers scan the red stars throughout the store to watch exclusive fashion tips and insider advice from stars like Carlos Santana, Rachel Ray, Donald Trump, Tommy Hilfiger, Martha Stewart and Michael Kors – all specifically tailored to individual shoppers. Over time this ‘backstage’ experience becomes more and more customized as Macy’s begins to build a more intimate relationship with the shopper.
But it isn’t just about mobile, Lundgren is also installing kiosks in-store than provide consumers access to reviews, advice from friends and the ability to pay on the spot. Additionally, he has placed an electronic concierge in the cosmetic section to recommend skin care products. Lungren explains, “It’s clear to me that the consumer likes shopping online, I am focused on how do we make them feel as comfortable and ready to buy in our stores as they do online?” Finally, Macy’s is turning 292 of its more than 800 stores double as distribution centers for online orders t0 better compete with Amazon.com. Macy’s is embracing an omni-channel, 1-to-1 approach to consumers.
Applications like ShopSavvy can help retailers open new lines of communications with shoppers. By making a topical connection at the exact right moment shoppers will appreciate the conversation. Successful retailers will learn to leverage these exclusive and scarce moments and shoppers will reward them.
ShopSavvy in Austin talking mobile payments, NFC, mobile advertising, and the war between Amazon and local retail.
Two months ago we updated the iOS version of ShopSavvy with a mandatory user account. We explained the thinking behind the account in a post here. Most users simply updated and created an account (millions of them), but a very small and vocal minority (hundreds of them) complained that forcing users to create an account was asking too much. To limit the carnage in our rating, we decided to limit the mandatory user account (we have had an optional account for almost a year) to just iOS for 60 days. Our experiment is over and we have decided to make a change.
When users who don’t have an account download the next ShopSavvy update the first thing they see upon opening the app will be the scanner screen. Users without an account will immediately be able to scan a barcode and get the standard online prices, local prices and product reviews. If the user wants to edit the product, add photos, add prices, check history, create lists, create wallet, export data, sync with Dropbox or any other enhanced feature they will have to create an account (with or without Facebook). Additionally, we decided allowing users to immediately see the scan screen was a GREAT idea so in settings any user (even those with an account) can set the app to open on scan screen always (the default function is for the app to go back to the last feature requested).
We will be bringing a similar implementation to Android around the same time Apple approves the update (up-to two weeks from now).
