One area where there have been relatively few iPhone apps that have launched is the Shopping space. TheFind just launched what I believe to be the first shopping app, and while it's still in private Beta (which means I haven't gotten to test it yet), it got me thinking about what shopping on your phone will be about.
I'm sure sites like Amazon and others will have nice little apps you can use to buy products that are available on their websites (basically just extensions of their sites), but I think the real impact of these kinds of applications will be on brick and mortar prices. When shoppers go into stores and see prices now, they often don't have any basis for comparison (although many do check the price online before they go into the store). Some stores have kiosks in the store where you can browse their inventory, but a few (Best Buy comes to mind) have a different website for in-store purchases which may have prices that are different from their websites.
That's where mobile shopping could be really powerful. As a consumer, you can now enter a store with a mobile device that will show you prices for an item from all retailers. You will now have immediate transparency to whether you are getting a good deal from a retailer or not. As this gets more user penetration, if the prices at retailers are significantly different from online (taking into account things like sales tax and shipping), users will shift even more purchases online. So, this will force retailers to make their brick and mortar prices more competitive with online and should cause price parity across sources (of/when consumer penetration and usage is achieved). Could be the start of something big.
Local Shopping Coming To A Mobile Phone Near You
I'm sure sites like Amazon and others will have nice little apps you can use to buy products that are available on their websites (basically just extensions of their sites), but I think the real impact of these kinds of applications will be on brick and mortar prices. When shoppers go into stores and see prices now, they often don't have any basis for comparison (although many do check the price online before they go into the store). Some stores have kiosks in the store where you can browse their inventory, but a few (Best Buy comes to mind) have a different website for in-store purchases which may have prices that are different from their websites.
That's where mobile shopping could be really powerful. As a consumer, you can now enter a store with a mobile device that will show you prices for an item from all retailers. You will now have immediate transparency to whether you are getting a good deal from a retailer or not. As this gets more user penetration, if the prices at retailers are significantly different from online (taking into account things like sales tax and shipping), users will shift even more purchases online. So, this will force retailers to make their brick and mortar prices more competitive with online and should cause price parity across sources (of/when consumer penetration and usage is achieved). Could be the start of something big.
Local Shopping Coming To A Mobile Phone Near You
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