Gold's Gym ramped up its mobile initiatives with QR codes
ShopSavvy claims that its mobile shopping assistant application has surpassed 16 million installations and 8 million active users across multiple smartphone platforms.
The company claims that is the total number of times ShopSavvy has been downloaded from the app stores of Apple, Android, Amazon and Windows Phone 7, as well as from independent markets or directly from the APK application file. The 16 million figure does not include pre-loads, app bundles or update downloads.
“Retailers are facing more and more pressure from online retailers who are able to leverage mobile technologies to reach into their brick-and-mortar stores,” said Alexander Muse, cofounder/CEO of ShopSavvy, Dallas. “When we started out, most retailers saw ShopSavvy as another threat, but more recently retailers have started to recognize that we can offer them a direct connection to local shoppers.
“ShopSavvy is like a set of rails that brick-and-mortar retailers can ride to offer special deals, coupons and warranties to local shoppers,” he said. “Retailers who leverage ShopSavvy are able to connect with consumers just moments before they purchase a product.
“Those connections are very valuable and can make the difference between keeping or losing a consumer.”
ShopSavvy helps smartphone users locate, research and buy products at the point of sale. When users scan a bar code or input a product name, they can find out where the item is sold locally and online, where it is in stock and at what price.
ShopSavvy aggregates product data, deals, ratings and reviews from retailers, partners and its own users.
For advertisers, ShopSavvy can deliver deals, promotions, warranty offers and other UPC/GPS-targeted content to consumers.
Mobile shopping on the upswing
According to data collected by comScore from December through February, 69.5 million people in the United States owned smartphones during that three-month period.
The company claims that nearly 12 percent of those 69.5 million smartphone owners in the U.S. are current unique users of ShopSavvy.
ShopSavvy reported that its users have downloaded 64 million updates to the most recent version of the application.
Eight million unique users have used the application and currently have it on their phones, per ShopSavvy.
The company explained that the current unique user number is lower than the download number for a variety of reasons.
Mr. Muse said that the biggest single factor is that when Android users do factory resets on their phones and then download the app, it registers as a new install.
The current user number also does not include individuals who have downloaded the app but not used it, or who do not currently have the app on their phones, per ShopSavvy.
ShopSavvy intends to update user statistics each quarter. It relies largely on word of mouth to increase downloads of the application.
“We have spent very little money on marketing to drive downloads,” Mr. Muse said. “Instead, we like to think our growth has been driven by our obsessive focus on the user and the product.
“Fred Wilson, a partner at Union Square Ventures, said, ‘Early in a startup you need to acquire your customers for free—later on, you can spend on customer acquisition,’” he said. “We have taken this advice to heart and focused all of our efforts on making the app second to none.”
Final Take
