ShopSavvy in Austin talking mobile payments, NFC, mobile advertising, and the war between Amazon and local retail.

One of the most common questions I’ve been getting at conferences and panels lately is around NFC and “is it a bubble” or where is it headed?  I thought it might be good to note some quick thoughts on the topic.

The last few years many large players in banking, technology and related industries have worked hard to push NFC related technologies to control the wallet.   The theory has been if you can control the wallet, you gain strategic advantages and marketing insights into the customer that are very valuable and can be leveraged across a much larger business.      This has resulted in the strategic groups at many entities engaging in a ferocious battle with carrier partnerships, talent raids/wars and other initiatives to try and push these efforts to gain the lead in the payments marketplace.

Those efforts are interesting, but what’s the value proposition for shoppers?

The problem with NFC is while the strategic benefit of “winning” is clear for large players in banking, technology and even the carriers, the value proposition to consumers  is not.  How does NFC actually make the shopping experience better?   This isn’t a developing country where no credit card system exists and you have to bring a pile of cash to check out at the hotel, you can pay a credit card and it’s great.

With NFC- how are you making the shopping experience better beyond what we have now with the credit card?  Is the credit card really broken? What’s the value proposition for consumers? What about for retailers?

People have charged ahead without answering these questions and as a result we have penetration rates on mobile phones in the single digits, and more alarmingly the same penetration rates at the retail point of sale (so even if phones catch up, not enough retailers support it yet).

This doesn’t mean NFC is dead- it just means the answers around payments will probably come from new players not yet in the game.  One candidate not often discussed—the retailers.  These retailers need to challenge their old business models and think of how they can actually improve the shopping experience using technology.   Restoring a sense of fun and wonder when I walk in the store using these portable computers in the hand could dramatically impact a retail business looking to “turn the tide”.   No question even if this innovation doesn’t come from the retailers, you are going to need to find ways that the value proposition works for them, not just the consumer.  What could the shopping experience look like in the next 5 years in terms of not just payment, but product and deal discovery?

We think the way you shop in 3-5 years will be completely different and at ShopSavy we are working to make this happen a little bit every day.   We know it’s a challenging time times for our retail partners but we believe it represents an opportunity for leaders in retail to really lead the charge and jump ahead of the competition (including Amazon) using technology.   Over the coming year we expect to introduce many of these technologies at ShopSavvy with our strategic partners—we can’t wait to help create the future of shopping.

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.

If you are a manufacturer and want to have your American made products highlighted in ShopSavvy send us a list of your ‘made in the USA’ UPC/EANs to madeintheusa@shopsavvy.com as soon as possible.

ShopSavvy has teamed with vertical ad network Longboard Media to market the most targeted advertising available today — AdOns, which are served to smartphone users using UPC/GPS intent pairs, which are determined based on the user’s demonstrated location and purchase intent.

Best Buy has launched the first campaign under the ShopSavvy/Longboard partnership, encouraging users who scan Back-to-School items to purchase their entire checklist from Best Buy.

Here’s the press release:

ShopSavvy Teams with Longboard Media to Connect Brands with Mobile Consumers

Top shopping app joins vertical ad network to deliver hyper-relevant advertising campaigns to smartphone users.

ShopSavvy, the leading mobile shopping assistant for iPhone and Android users, and Longboard Media, the leading vertical advertising network representing premium shopping, product review and retail publishers, announced that they have joined forces to offer highly targeted ad campaigns to major brands and retailers though ShopSavvy’s AdOns platform. AdOns enable advertisers to deliver hyper-relevant, UPC/GPS-targeted messages to mobile consumers at the point of highest purchase intent, as they stand in a retail store with a potential purchase in hand.

The first AdOns buyer secured by Longboard Media is global retailer Best Buy. The campaign is currently running with feature offers, local store inventory, and branding content delivered when ShopSavvy users scan specific products as part of a Best Buy Back-to-School promotion.

“We are pleased to be part of Longboard Media’s premium ad network, which recognizes that shopping sites represent the highest value to advertisers among online publishers,” said Alexander Muse, CEO and co-founder of ShopSavvy. “Longboard has helped advertisers to see the full potential of ShopSavvy’s highly targeted location/intent pair advertising. Because advertisers know the user’s specific location and buying interest, ShopSavvy is commanding rates well north of $500 CPM.”

“We are extremely excited to be working with ShopSavvy. We have yet to find a more targeted consumer than a person in-store or driving around looking for specific products, which is what ShopSavvy delivers to advertisers,” said Jim Barkow, Longboard Media, CEO and co-founder. “We are already seeing a very large interest in ShopSavvy’s targeted programs from large retailers, brands, and credit cards across all different product categories. Advertisers are looking to engage with consumers in a mobile environment and are impressed by the app’s ability to drive local sales and increase transaction value. We anticipate that the market for AdOns will grow exponentially as more brands become aware of this opportunity.”

About ShopSavvy

ShopSavvy is the leading mobile shopping assistant, with more than 20 million downloads and 11 million current unique users. ShopSavvy empowers smartphone users to quickly and seamlessly locate, research and buy products at the point of sale. When users scan a barcode or input a product name, they discover where the item is sold locally and online, where it’s in stock and at what price. ShopSavvy aggregates product data, deals, ratings and reviews from retailers, partners and its own users to provide the most comprehensive source of information and advice for mobile shoppers anywhere. For advertisers, ShopSavvy delivers “hyper-relevant” deals, promotions, warranty offers, and other UPC/GPS-targeted content to consumers. For more information, visit http://shopsavvy.mobi.

About Longboard Media

Longboard Media is the leading Shopping Vertical ad network providing direct sales, ad serving and monetization to leading shopping publishers and online Retailers. With more than 25 premium shopping publishers and Retailers, Longboard Media reaches over 55M consumers each month across hundreds of product categories. Longboard Media offers a transparent and a publisher-centric model set up to provide reoccurring value to our publisher base. Longboard Media works with brand marketers to target consumers in the consumer funnel with engaging and powerful advertising experiences. http://www.longboardmedia.com

More and more produce items are sporting scan-able barcodes and we thought it might be cool if consumer could figure out where a particular fruit was grown. Did you know that 27% of produce is grown by family farms? We decided to partner with Top 10 Produce to help ShopSavvy users ‘Know Your Farmer’. The program is brand new, but over the coming months hundreds of farms will be added to the system. ShopSavvy users who scan produce will find pictures, maps, Facebook Pages, Twitter feeds and related to the farmer who grew the fruit or vegetable.

The ‘Know Your Farmer’ feature is delivered through the HTML5 powered AdOns framework. Here is an example (just scan it with ShopSavvy):

If you check out the sample lists included in ShopSavvy you will see one called ‘Hot Food‘. It includes a number of cookbooks and cooking gear by Giada de Laurentis. Of course, this is not by accident. When the ShopSavvy team was building sample lists the idea for a ‘cooking’ list was brought up and immediately the entire team thought Giada would be the perfect chef to highlight. Our question? Does Giada use ShopSavvy?

Don’t know who Giada is? Shame on you. Giada Pamela De Laurentiis, born August 22, 1970 is an Italian American chef, writer, television personality, and the current host of the Food Network programs Everyday Italian, Behind the Bash, Giada’s Weekend Getaways, Giada in Paradise, and Giada at Home. She also appears regularly as a contributor and guest co-host on NBC’s Today. De Laurentiis is the founder of the catering business GDL Foods.

Shoppers are using ShopSavvy to scan products before they buy more and more. Ever wonder what stores had the most scanning? Here are the top 50 stores:

Developers with qualified applications can use the fourth row AdOns to promote their applications. Sold on a pay-per-download model we only present your app to users who would actually be interested in downloading your application. Displayed as an option in the ‘fourth row’ of ShopSavvy our program is available on iPhone and Android. We can’t guarantee millions of downloads, but we can guarantee your app will only be presented to users when it is relevant to their current activity. In the past we have experimented with paid download programs with limited success. Even the best program only yielded one actual user per 16 downloads. We believe our targeting will result in REAL users who actually want and need your application.

• If you are a brand whose products have UPCs and want to promote your app this program is for you.

• If you are a retailer who sells products with UPCs and want to promote your app this program is for you.

• If your app has information about products with UPCs this program is for you.

• If your app is related to a brand with UPCs this program is for you.

How much? If your app is free we charge a $1.00 per download; for paid apps we can give you a quote – just let us know. Please complete this form (or email sales@biggu.com):