03.06.2007 | Now They're Sell-Phones
Newsday
By Keiko Morris
March 6, 2007
Fledgling group of mobile services allow shoppers to compare products' prices by dialing their devices
In an age where cell phones have become the ultimate multitasking device, a handful of entrepreneurs are hoping to add another use: comparison shopping.
Frucall, an Irvine, Calif., company, says people can dial its service as they shop the stores, punch in a bar code and find out whether a particular item is available cheaper online.
Manhattan-based Scanbuy offers a similar application for cell phone users who have an unlimited data plan.
And GPShopper in Manhattan, unlike the other two, provides a service that helps customers find a nearby store where a particular product is in stock.
The niche of people using these services is still small, but the companies are eyeing an ever-growing population of cell phone users who are becoming increasingly accustomed to accessing the Internet on their phones. In a December survey by the NPD Group, a Port Washington market-research firm, 40 percent of subscribers had some form of data plan, and of those browsing the Internet on their cell phones, 75 percent visited either eBay or Amazon.com.
"There are 2 billion people worldwide with cell phones," said Alex Muller, GPShopper's chief executive. "Worldwide, more people are able to access the Internet via cell phones than computers."
Slifter, the cell phone application GPShopper launched nationwide last year, takes the customer's ZIP code and a search term, and provides locations, photos, product descriptions, availability and sometimes store promotions. Retailers like Best Buy pay to be in the system, which is vendor-supported.
Chris Jaklitsch, 45, of Bohemia, works on a computer all day and, for that reason, decided not to have one at home. But she said a cell phone service like Slifter would have been convenient when she was searching for a Sit 'N Spin toy for her niece last Christmas. She went to three stores and had to go back to one store twice to find the item in stock.
"That's a relevant example that would have saved me time and trouble and gas in the traffic and hustle and bustle of the Christmas rush," she said.
While Slifter aims to reduce wasted time and frustration, Frucall offers the customer information about online prices and deals when the consumer is in the store, touching and examining the product. By dialing a toll-free number, the shopper can hear or receive a text message of top prices, reviews and shipping costs and decide whether the store price is fair, said Behzad Nadji, Frucall's chief executive.
"We have all been in that situation where we do an online search for a product and we have to go through tens of thousands of leads you have to follow through," Nadji said. "So why not go to one place that does all the checking and not only that, I want to have that while I am at the store buying the item."
Frucall and similar services like Scanbuy Shopper, from the New York-based Scanbuy, introduces a "dimension of virtual competition," benefitting consumers and online retailers, said Haim Mendelson, a professor of electronic business, commerce and management at Stanford's Graduate School of Business.
"It's a way to add more information to improve the shopping experience from the shopper's point of view, and sales productivity from a retailer's point of view," Mendelson said.
The next step is simplifying the process and arming consumers with software that will allow them to transmit a bar code with a camera phone. Manhattan-based Scanbuy already has the software, but many phones used in the U.S. aren't able to recognize the bar codes traditionally used in retail.
However, chief executive Jonathan Bulkeley predicts that in two to three years most products and ads will have two-dimensional bar codes that most phones with cameras will be able to read.
The market for these applications is small today. Services similar to Slifter are constrained because of the large amount of inventory information required by retailers, said Sucharita Mulpuru, a senior analyst with Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass.-based technology and market research company. And consumers aren't likely to be interested in conducting extensive searches on their cell phones, she said.
"There's a lot of excitement around mobile commerce, but I think the solution mobile is going to solve is not necessarily packaged goods problems, but more event experience solutions like restaurant reservations and buying tickets," Mulpuru said.
Mobile commerce won't surpass brick and mortar sales or buying over the Internet with a personal computer, but it is growing, Mendelson said.
But, he added, when the market grows, these different companies want to make sure they are in a strong position.
Shopping on the go
A comparison of three major mobile shopping services that are available nationally.
Slifter
GETTING STARTED Need Web-ready phone with data-service plan. Access using free Slifter software.
HOW IT SEARCHES User enters ZIP code and product, and the service locates nearby participating stores that sell it, along with prices.
BUY PRODUCT VIA PHONE? No.
COST None, except for data-service charges.
Scanbuy Shopper
GETTING STARTED Need Web-ready phone with data-service plan. Access using free Scanbuy software.
HOW IT SEARCHES User enters product bar code, and the service searches online for best prices, product info and reviews.
BUY PRODUCT VIA PHONE? Yes.
COST None, except for data-service charges.
Frucall
GETTING STARTED Access via toll-free number. Data-service plan not needed.
HOW IT SEARCHES User enters product bar code, and the service searches online for best prices and product info. Keeps bookmarked items, search history.
BUY PRODUCT VIA PHONE? Yes.
COST None.
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