More shoppers are using their cell phones while they visit brick-and-mortar stores and Tinyview is keen to take advantage of their attention. Launched last summer, the store shopping app already has partnerships with Abercrombie & Fitch, Forever 21, and even online retailers like Amazon.
Fresh off a new revamp, Tinyview co-founder and CEO Raj Lalwani talked with Inside Social Commerce about why shoppers are going mobile, how social is changing shopping and what 2013 holds for his company.
Inside Social Commerce: What’s going on with mobile vs. online shopping?
Raj Lalwani, Co-founder and CEO, Tinyview: What’s happening is a lot of people are doing research on their mobile phone. It is always with them, so they are using it when they’re hanging out with their kids, waiting to be seated for lunch or when a friend tells them to look something up while they’re out. They are used a lot for research.
But the checkout process is so difficult, they go to the desktop and buy things from there. I think this is a temporary thing; the industry will figure it out.
ISC: Yes, many studies found that people use mobile to browse instead of purchase. What needs to change?
Lalwani: It is happening today! People are actually buying from the mobile, but the difficulty right now is the checkout process – some purchasing requires a user ID and password or, worse case scenario, the credit card number, billing address, and so on.
Some of the store-specific apps make it easy, like Amazon. But the model isn’t scalable across the store. I can expect to have one or two apps – maybe from Amazon or Fandango – but if I want to buy something from Nordstrom’s or Macy’s, I may not keep that app on my phone.
What [Tinyview] is doing is autoform filling. It is a little bit of help right now, but it’s not a permanent solution. Even on the desktop, we haven’t gone much further than autoform filling, even after all these years
[Tinyview] knows people do a lot of research on mobile, so we allow people to capture ideas as they are doing the research. They can also go to their desktop and access all their Tinyview research in the web-based apps. It makes it easier to save products as well as share them with friends.
ISC: In the earlier version, users had to download the company’s app to use it in Tinyview a la Apple Passbook. Now it pulls up a retailer’s mobile website. Why did you opt for the HTML approach?
Lalwari: We feel that people will probably install a couple of apps, but it’s not scalable, since you need to download the Zappos app to buy shoes, etc. Fortunately, all these retailers have good, mobile-optimized websites. We can actually bookmark them – well, it’s more than bookmarking – but it makes it easy for users switch between stores. We let them buy their goods all from one app.
It’s more than bookmarking for a number of reasons. For example, we have mapped out their various checkout processes, so we can help people fill out their information. And if there is a store that’s not available, you can bookmark it yourself for the app.
ISC: So, Tinyview is a virtual mall?
Lalwari: Exactly. In a mall, you can go with your friends and share a list of products you’re interested in. On the [Tinyview] trending page, you can actually see what other people are saving on their lists – kind of like seeing a bunch of people in line in front of Forever 21.
ISC: Path and other closed social networks are popular, but when it comes to shopping, why is private curation important?
Lalwari: That’s the biggest difference between Tinyview and other apps like Pinterest. I feel that if there are things that can be private, it actually encourages people to do more. [When everything’s public] I’m not going to curate things I really need, like a pot, a pair of socks or other day-to-day things. And people may actually judge me.
There is this whole layer of social commerce being formed above the retailers. It cuts across all of them, with apps like Pinterest and Tinyview, and it’s a whole ecosystem where people are finding out about products. There is social discovery and social validation.
If I’m looking for a camera and 20 other people saved it, it provides social proof. You’ll see a lot of innovation happening at that level and we’re seeing it work with a lot of retailers.
