myShopanion Takes Comparison Shopping Social
Comparison shopping is great when you are out and about looking for the best deals on a product or even looking for reviews. However, I catch myself wondering about the reviews on occasion. “This is an awesome product, and is a must buy!”, says dbz09. For all I know this could be an intern working for the product maker going around putting up great reviews for a crappy product. I just want honest feedback from people that I know and trust and myShopanion is aiming to provide that service. The myShopanion is an iPhone app that just recently launched at DEMO and intends to help bridge the gap between online and real-world shopping.
myShopanion [Itunes Link] enables consumers to get all the information they need to make informed purchases while on the go. It will allow you to:
- Leverages sophisticated bar-code scanning (by partnering with Red Laser) as well as search to access extensive product detail, ratings and reviews (by partnering with Shopping.com and other price comparison sites, and ePinions for reviews)
- Includes social functionality such as the ability to share product detail and pictures on Facebook and Twitter, as well as by email
- Enables consumers to find the best deals on new and used products from thousands of retailers
Based on the success of the RedLaser app, myShopanion has the potential and ability to become a great success with its added layer of social media. Currently the app allows users to share products they scan and search via Twitter and Facebook and gather feedback from friends. You can provide feeback as well within the feed area of the app, where you will find shared activity, add comments to the products your friends are checking out. In addition, since the app is connected to Facebook and Twitter you can find and add friends from those social networks as well.
One thing I would like to see added in a future update is the ability to send push notifications to your friends. Because even though I’m able to share my scans and searches instantly that doesn’t mean I’m going to get an answer on whether I should by a product from my friends instantly. Also, I’m sure the Android users are feeling a bit left out on this so I wouldn’t mind seeing an Android app for myShopanion as well.
myShopanion is made by Zappli. The company has raised an undisclosed amount from angel investors and may raise additional funds within the next few months.
If this is something you believe you could put to great use, download it and let us know what you think in the comments below.
