Tag: shopping app

The HBC Department Store Group has launched new stronger shopping apps for its brands.

Among the latest announcements from the HBC Department Store Group is that it has now launched a new iOS mobile commerce app for both its Lord & Taylor and Hudson’s Bay retail stores.

The application has been designed to span the gap between traditional media and online shopping.

To achieve the mobile app development, HBC has been working with Pounce, a consumer facing mobile commerce application that brings together traditional media with the smartphone and tablet channel. This gives customers the ability to use their mobile devices to purchase merchandise that they have seen in print media such as flyers or catalogs. Pounce remains the only app with approval from Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor which gives customers the ability to shop directly from what they are seeing in print.

This mobile commerce app gives consumers the chance to use their devices to scan images in print media.

The m-shopping app was launched in Canada immediately ahead of the start of the Winter Olympic Games, this year. The timing was deliberate as the Hudson’s Bay is the official apparel sponsor of the Paralympic and Olympic teams that Canada is sending to compete in the Sochi 2014 games. The print ads that the retailer issues just ahead of – and during – the games will be the first that will display the Pounce shopping opportunity for consumers.

Outside of Canada, the smartphone shopping app will also be launched in the United States for Lord & Taylor.

According to Michael Crotty, the HBC chief marketing officer, the purpose of this new effort is to be able to embrace the latest popular technology and combine it with traditional media. He explained that “Pounce creates the opportunity to combine offline and online channels in a seamless way. He also pointed out that the unique capability of the app provides a natural fit with the brand as they expand their omni-channel strategy. It provides not only the opportunity to continue with traditional marketing and to appeal to users of mobile devices, but also the chance to bring them together.

The company already owns a number of different online shopping brands and will now be adding this as well.

Shopzilla, Inc., an online and mobile commerce company, has just acquired Zappli, to add to its long list of brands, including Bizrate, TaDa, Beso, Retrevo, among others.

The newly acquired early stage startup has developed a new shopping app for iPhones.

It is a mobile commerce application that is called myShopanion. However, on top of that, it has also included a unique checkout experience that it has called “instaBuy”. That latter feature had been launched last fall. In concept, it can be compared to the one click checkout that is used by Amazon. It also provides a way for smartphone shoppers to provide all of their contact, shipping, and billing information all at once.

This mobile commerce experience proves to be quite convenient for its users.

By making those details accessible by the customer with a single tap, it not only makes a mobile commerce checkout quite convenient for them, but it also avoids patent infringement with Amazon by requiring two clicks, instead of one.

The technology was initially showcased by Zappli in the myShopanion mobile commerce app, which gave consumers the chance to buy from dozens of different big retailers, including everyone from Best Buy to Buy.com, and from Barnes & Noble to Kohl’s, Macy’s, Walmart, and many more.

Bill Glass, the CEO of Shopzilla, explained that his company first saw Zappli in terms of its potential as a strategic partner. However, discussions finally grew to the point that it wasn’t simply a matter about working together, but about much more than that. He said that “Through those meetings, we were very impressed by the significant expertise and cutting-edge technology in the mobile commerce space, which they developed over the last three and half years,” and added that “and those initial partnership conversations led to the acquisition.”

Neither of the companies are revealing the terms of this mobile commerce deal. However, both the team and the investors are saying that it is a well received acquisition which will have the entire Zappli team joining that of Shopzilla.