Tag: Shopping »

Everybody loves to save money wherever possible. Even more so in the current global financial climate. So what better way of doing so than through a free app by the name of Shopkick?

Shopkick offers users all manners of new and exclusive shopping deals from the likes of Target, Best Buy, Macy's, American Eagle, Sports Authority, Crate & Barrel and more. Perhaps even better, it also offers a rewards package in which users can simply and quickly gain gift cards, free movie tickets or help a good cause just by shopping. Shopkick ensures there's hardly anything people need to do to gain such rewards. They can do this by simply walking into one of the many partner stores, scanning products, making purchases or simply by checking in to the store. Walk in rewards are available in 80 different places across the US, including NYC, LA, SF, Dallas, Chicago, BOS, ATL, Houston, D.C., Miami, Seattle and St. Louis.

Shopkick also provides users with the ability to personalize their deal feed by picking out their favourite stores from over 50 different national chains, so it's easy to pick out the best deals. There's also top ten deals listed regularly to consult at a quick glance. Users can easily check out what stores are nearby and what deals are offered simply by tapping on the nearby menu option.

Users can quickly check how near they are to acquiring a reward by checking their total at the top of each screen within ShopKick. The rewards are suitably varied with the likes of charitable donations, gift certificates or simply Facebook credits ensuring there's something for everyone's taste. Plus they're relatively easily acquired too by checking what products provide what deals.

Shopkick is available now for North American users and is a free app so it's well worth a try. Here's hoping something similar comes over to Europe in the near future.

Right about now it can be incredibly difficult to keep track of all the various gifts which must be purchased for loved ones for the holidays. Which version of Pokemon did little Timmy want? Is Sally a size 3 or a size 4? Did Frank say that drill he wanted is on sale at Sears or Lowes? It can all be a bit overwhelming but, thanks to the new Gift Plan app, you might just manage to keep your sanity after all.

Gift Plan allows you to easily create and organize shopping lists which you can use as handy references while you're running about town. Users can put together exhaustive lists sorted in various manners such as individuals or occasions. The app also tracks spending so you can easily keep track of where you are within your shopping budget and make changes as necessary.

Beyond the holidays Gift Plan will also prove itself useful in the future, as you can easily save upcoming birthdays, anniversaries or other special gift-giving events. The app even supports importing birthdays from your contact list or Facebook, taking pretty much all the onus off of you to remember all those pesky dates. On top of all that, Gift Plan also lets you set alerts for upcoming events so you can be sure and get all your shopping done on time.

This seems to be quite an ingenious little app as it manages to merge both calendars and time management with budgeting and shopping. This is the perfect little helper for all those with long shopping lists, short memories or both. Also, it's just a great organization app in general as it lets you put all the important details about anyone on your holiday list all in one place. It's one of those apps which just seems too good to be true, but it's totally real and it's fabulous.

[via TiPb]

Ever since scanning our very first barcode with RedLaser, the iOS consumer base has been hooked on barcode scanning. So hooked in fact that ShopSavvy, with its 6.6 million users, are projected to scan more than 100 million different barcodes between now and Christmas. To be a bit more sexy to its user base, ShopSavvy is adding a slew of new features in its latest update.

”ShopSavvy began as a barcode-scanning app that helped consumers compare prices at the point of purchase,” said Alexander Muse, ShopSavvy co-creator. “Now, with ShopSavvy 4 for iPhone, we’ve taken the app to an entirely new level – enabling consumers not only to see information from our extensive price comparison engine, but to add their own deals, discoveries, ratings and reviews to our database. We’ve brought the power of Wikipedia-style crowdsourcing to shoppers.”

ShopSavvy 4 update mainly involves user feedback (but also includes 5x faster scanning!) to the already popular scanning app. Instead of just scanning items, users will be able to add and share photos and prices from places that aren't already in the ShopSavvy system and can submit reviews of items to create a savvy review system that will go alongside the standard 3rd party reviews. The new update also uses targeted advertising, called AdOns, that will send you coupons and suggestions based on your location and what you are looking at. The best feature of all though, and possibly the most simple, is the inclusion of different stores price matching policies. Knowing whether or not the store you are at will match the prices you find within the app could be a huge time saver.

ShopSavvy 4 is available today as a free update or download in iTunes. While it won't necessarily make the gift selection process any easier, it will certainly save you some time and money while you are making your purchases.

A friend (who happens to be an app developer) and I were discussing the other day the feasibility of a grocery store app that would help users find what they were looking for. The general thought was that it would be a neat app, but the time spent to money earned ratio didn't really seem to make the app worth it, at least in our eyes.

Aisle411 doesn't think so, however, as they are releasing "the first comprehensive mobile shopping platform for (the) iPhone." The app lets users find specific items in stores, and even guides them to the specific section of the aisle. In addition, the app provides product reviews, a shopping list generator, social network integration, and provides reward points and coupons for specific items.

"According to National Consumer Research, 83 percent of shoppers have trouble finding what they are looking for in stores," said Nathan Pettyjohn, CEO, aisle411. "The launch of our iPhone App and mobile website will dramatically transform the way customers find what they are looking for and make purchase decisions. As more shoppers engage with mobile technology to enhance everything from building shopping lists and finding product reviews, to navigating retail environments and sharing their shopping experiences with friends, aisle411's groundbreaking solution is evolving the way consumers interact with retailers, advertisers and brands."

The Aisle411 iPhone app is looking to launch this fall and will be available in over 1,400 retail stores in the US. There's been no mention of social achievements or status rankings yet, but I'm absolutely dying to be the mayor of Safeway, aisle 5.

Note: The video below further explains the benefits of the Aisle411 system to retailers, but it only describes the current service that is available for free by dialing 1-877-AISLE-411.

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Interview with August Trometer: Part 2: [audio:http://148apps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/AugustTrometerP2.mp3]
To listen to the audio interview, click the play triangle above.
To download the .MP3, right click and choose "Save Link As...".

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Finishing up our interview with August, I ask him about what it is like being an iPhone developer in the lime-light, or Celebrity Developer. He talks about how much fun it has been to break out of the traditional role from time to time, and how it has really helped out his programming business.

I also get his opinions on Apple's filing to have jailbreaking iPhones judged illegal, what that means to the development community, and how jailbreaking is actually beneficial to the App Store and making the iPhone a popular development platform. August also tells us why he has avoided it.

Most importantly, August gives us the breaking story about the soon to be released app, YOWZA!!, and how it will change the way you shop and use your iPhone.

Listen to how August met Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman on Heroes) on Twitter, and joined forces with Rick Yaeger from MacMerc, to create a whole new business model for an iPhone app, and how they have tackled the problems of turning your iPhone into a money-saving shopping tool! And it's going to be FREE!

Here is a little taste from Greg himself.

Enjoy!

You can check out August's digital book, Optimizing Your Website for Mobile Safari on your Kindle from Amazon, or buy it in PDF format here.