Lots of people ask me what I think of the various smartphone platforms. Rylan came up with a super hero for each smartphone. Here are his picks:
iPhone::Batman – is loved for his human limitations, gadgets, style and willingness to play by his own rules. The iPhone will continue to be loved by millions.
Blackberry::Wolverine – both are from Canada and are very old (80 years old I think). Neither are much to look at, but they are very scrappy. Both are notoriously difficult to work with.
Windows Mobile 6.5::Captain American – was once relevant during WWII, has no special powers and is generally irrelevant to most Americans today. Windows Mobile will continue to become less and less relevant.
Windows Phone 7::The Phoenix – rose from the ashes and is disturbingly powerful. Windows Phone has a real chance of being a hit.
Palm WebOS::Robin – forever in Batman’s shadow. At one point Robin died and was replaced. There is some hope for Robin as he did eventually become Nightwing. Perhaps with HP’s support WebOS has a chance.
Android::Apocalypse – has complete control over the atomic structure of his body, looks like a robot and has limitless potential. Android’s strength is also its weakness, it can be everything to anyone.
Symbian::Arm Fall Off Boy – was so lame he was rejected by all of the other superheroes. Enough said…
Since the launch of ShopSavvy in 2008, we have had two primary competitors – Google and Amazon. Last week Google launched their THIRD barcode scanning shopping app (1st was Barcode Scanner (open source project by Google folks and 2nd was Google Goggles) called Google Shopper. All three are great apps. Lots of people have asked me, “So is this the end of ShopSavvy?”
The simple answer is, “I hope not.” Google and Amazon are NOT the sort of competitors a startup should take lightly, but I do think their (repeated) entrance into our space is good news. We really stumbled onto something when we our app first won Google’s Android Developer Challenge and (obviously) they didn’t over look this fact.
100% of our focus is on making ShopSavvy the BEST shopping application on the market. Our goals are simple:
No. 1 INFORM the user
No. 2 EMPOWER the user
No. 3 INSPIRE the user
We have been doing No. 1 for about 18 months. We are just about to offer No. 2 with our payments integration. Finally, we hope to complete No. 3 by the end of the second quarter. Earlier this month I wrote about focusing on what your competitors are doing in a post titled, “Negative Target Acquisition“. We will keep trying to make ShopSavvy the BEST shopping application on the market. Ironically, Google’s new app has DRAMATICALLY increased our download volume. We are adding new users at a level we have NEVER seen before. Google’s PR effort is amazing, but interestingly my Google Alert’s for ‘ShopSavvy’ have been going off every hour as a new stories mentions both Google’s new app AND ShopSavvy. It is insane. So, I just wanted to thank Google for all the PR. We will continue to attempt to innovate and users will decide the ultimate winner(s).
ShopSavvy is current available on Android (Droid, Hero, Nexus, Eris, G1, MyTouch) and iPhone 3GS. We are currently working on versions for:
Android (all AF camera versions) – Launched!
Android (Devour, Tattoo, Lancaster – i.e. non-AF cameras) – June 2010
iPhone (2G/3G – i.e. non-AF cameras) – Launched!
Windows Mobile – July 2010
Blackberry – Nov 2010
Symbian/Nokia – Launched!
PalmOS – June 2010
Based on our current workload and staff these dates seem reasonable. Of course, our iPhone version took us almost three months longer than we expected (and we still don’t have the 2G/3G working well). We get LOTS of emails each day, hopefully this update will help.
Lots of you ask, “Which retailers will price match?” I found an interesting site that seems to answer this question for a number of retailers called Price Pinx. Here are some of the retailers they follow:
BestBuy.com Price Matching/Price Guarantee: If you’ve made a BestBuy.com purchase and discover a lower price offered on BestBuy.com Web site or at a Best Buy store on the same available brand and model, let BestBuy.com know and they will match that price on the spot, tax included.
As a Crutchfield customer, you are covered by their thirty-day Low Price Guarantee. If Crutchfield offers an item you have purchased from Crutchfield at a lower price within 30 days of your purchase, Crutchfield will be glad to refund the difference. (For Gaming products, the difference will be issu
If an item from eToys is marked down within 30 days of your order date, eToys will honor the advertised eToys sale price. Unfortunately, eToys is unable to match competitors’ prices.
Price Adjustments: Stores offer a one-time price adjustment when an original sales receipt is presented within 14 days of date of purchase. Online offers a one-time price adjustment within 14 days from invoice date.
Per Customer Service: Giggle does not have any price guarantee program but Giggle will price match similar retail establishments (retail stores, no discount internet sites).
Price Adjustments: Hollister.com will gladly do a price adjustment for your online or catalog order. All price adjustments must be made within 14 days of the order placement date.
If you happen to find a lower online price, and meet homeannex’s terms and conditions below, they will not only give you 100% of the difference, but an EXTRA 10% on top of it – That’s 110% of the difference!
The Home Depot In-Store Low Price Guarantee: “Nobody beats our prices. If you find a current lower price on an identical, in-stock item from any retailer, we will match the price and beat it by 10% – guaranteed.”
J.Crew gladly honors a one-time price adjustment on full price merchandise within seven days of the retail purchase or mail order ship date if accompanied by the original receipt. Items not purchased at full price are ineligible for price adjustments.
If an item from KBtoys.com is marked down within 30 days of your order date, KBtoys will honor the advertised KBtoys.com sale price. Unfortunately, KBtoys does not match competitors prices.
If you see your bag selling elsewhere for less, contact LuggageOnline.com within 30 days of your purchase and they will refund you 110% of the difference between the lower price and the LuggageOnline.com price.*
Excluding LAST CALL ONLINE CLEARANCE merchandise, NeimanMarcus.com offers a one-time (single order) refund or adjustment for items purchased within 10 days of a price adjustment
Newegg Policy: “Newegg.com does not offer any price guarantee … If your order has not shipped, you can cancel the order online and re-order to take advantage of the new prices…” (too see the actual policy please click on the policy link and search for “Price Guarantee”)
Price Matching: If you find the same item at another retailer for a lower price, they will gladly match it. Sale Adjustment: If the item you purchased is reduced in price, they will happily accommodate a sale adjustment within 2 weeks from your order date.
If you find a lower price within 14 days of purchase at another retailer, in an OfficeMax store, OfficeMax catalog or OfficeMax.com, they will match the lower price instantly subject to conditions …
If you find a lower price on another website than what you paid on Shoes.com within 10 days after your purchase on Shoes.com, Shoes.com will refund you 115% of the difference up to the price of the item on Shoes.com.
All merchants will guarantee that the prices on SHOP.COM are the same as those on the merchants’ own site. We will back every certified merchant and guarantee your satisfaction or your money back!
Per Customer Service: “At this time we do not do price matching, however if you purchase an item that goes on sale at Torrid within 10 days we will happily adjust the original purchase price.”
If you find an item for a lower price on another web site or in a retail store, they will refund you 110% of the difference between the lower price and our price. They will even refund the difference if they lower the price at Zappos.com!
[I first wrote about this on my blog and thought I would cross post here]
I was driving to Nacogodoches (network coverage is spotty at best on Highway 175) when I saw a Google alert for ShopSavvy (our barcode scanning price comparison application). One of my heroes, Tim O’Reilly, had written an article titled ‘Why Using ShopSavvy Might Not be So Savvy.” When I tried to click on the article to read it while driving down the road (I don’t recommend driving while reading, but I couldn’t resist) I went through a zone without AT&T Edge or 3G coverage (too bad I didn’t have my Verizon Droid). For the next 35 minutes I imagined what Tim had written – driving down the highway in East Texas waiting impatiently for my iPhone to switch from ‘Searching’ to Edge or 3G. When I finally got enough service to load his post I was surprised.
Tim wrote that ShopSavvy reminded him of “the fundamental shortsightedness of so many of our economic decisions, that flaw in human nature that makes us seize on temporary advantage without thinking of the long-term consequences.” He suggested that pursuit of the lowest price will ‘hasten the demise of many retailers’ and ultimately result in increased prices.
First, I think Tim’s premise is flawed. Eliminating mega-retailers won’t increase prices – the internet will make sure of that. Second, to suggest that applications like ShopSavvy are somehow to blame for the demise of mega-retailers is sort of silly. If mega-retailers are on the way out it won’t be the fault of applications written by a tiny company in Dallas, Texas. Why did Circuit City fail? Circuit City did not lose to the internet, it lost to Best Buy. Best Buy stores were better stocked, easier to navigate, staffed by employees who seem to care and often have great deals. For every purchase I make online I make four in a local retailer like Best Buy. If Tim is worried that ShopSavvy somehow takes away from mega-retailers I think he should realize that the real culprit is the internet itself.
The moment the internet was created retail shopping was forever changed. The internet made information about products and pricing available to anyone with a computer and more recently anyone with a smartphone. Savvy shoppers have been checking online retail prices from the very start (see Amazon.com). I wish Tim’s article had been titled, “Why using the internet to shop might not be so savvy.” Ironically ShopSavvy can provide a retailer with the ability to understand and respond to a shopper’s behavior. Shoppers who just use the internet are simply lost from the retailers perspective. I would argue applications like ShopSavvy might be the BEST thing to happen to local retail in a long time.
At the end of the day I don’t agree with Tim’s premise, but I could respect it more if it called out the real culprit. Tim explains that he rarely shops in physical stores, “I do most of my shopping online, and I love the convenience. But when I do go to local stores to browse physical products, I make sure to buy there, even if there’s a better price online. I’m paying a little extra for that right to walk up and touch the product before I buy it.”
I have a dirty little secret I would like to share with Tim: 100% of retail shoppers know that they can buy everything cheaper online. They don’t need ShopSavvy to explain this to them. ShopSavvy organizes information (reviews, pricing and inventory) about the products our users are interested in buying. Ironically, the most compelling part of ShopSavvy is how it helps users discover local prices and inventory. Our data shows that users spend 75% more time clicking on local prices than online prices. They want to know that the store next door sells the same item for less AND has it in inventory. If shoppers were to follow Tim’s advice they would be compelled to buy an item regardless of price. If I was a retailer and saw Tim coming into my store I would mark everything up 500% knowing he would pay the markup.
I suspect mega-retailers would prefer that Tim do more of his shopping in their stores even if he continued to buy most everything online. I don’t think they would be offended at all. If he shopped in Best Buy he might be surprised that Best Buy would match online retailers like Amazon.com. Mega-retailers like Walmart, Target and Best Buy all focus on price. They claim to have the best prices, they price match and they offer in-store deals all of the time. Some retailers like Nordstrom focus on service – I buy clothes at Nordstrom because they help me buy clothes – I do not buy clothes at Macy’s because they focus on price. Retail is changing – the internet started it. ShopSavvy won’t be the demise of retail. Anyway, thanks for the mention Tim (surely we will get a few more downloads because of it).
ShopSavvy is current available on Android (Droid, Hero, Nexus, Eris, G1, MyTouch) and iPhone 3GS. We are currently working on versions for:
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