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

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.

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