Who wants to clutter up their mobile device by downloading all the apps of their favorite retailers?
That’s the thought behind mobile-commerce start-up Tinyview, which brings together a number of merchants into one app, creating a mini-mall for your pocket.
The iPhone app and mobile site features 50 retailers under one virtual roof that combines ease of use with social shopping and consumer curation. The user interface “sits on top” of the mobile sites for merchants including Amazon, Target, Macy’s, Nordstrom’s Forever 21 and more.
By selecting a merchant in the app, that brand’s m-commerce site is displayed in Tinyview’s interface. Customers can browse and save products that catch their fancy by using a “save” button when the product page is visible. Users sign in one time via Facebook to enable this feature. Shoppers can create lists of their saved products and share those lists with family and friends.
It’s also a boon for the app itself, kicking off a viral component when a user’s social connections see the lists and, in turn, download the app for their own use.
Products saved to lists also appear in Tinyview’s “trending” section, enabling curated shopping and social commerce in basically one fell swoop.
The app also employs a autofill feature in which payment preferences—credit card number, billing and shipping information—alleviating a pain-point of mobile shopping.
All in all a very clever concept. Tinyview makes a profit by engaging with partners who offer excellence in m-commerce, says founder Raj Lalwani. The company profits from affiliate fees that range from 4 to 10 percent, depending on the merchant.
“Checkout takes place on the m-commerce site because users feel very comfortable with the retailers—Nordstrom, for example, brings a certain reputation to the transaction and consumers feel comfortable doing business with them,” Lalwani tells Internet Retailer. “Overall it’s a very symbiotic relationship we have with retailers—we help them with sales, and we exist only because they have excellent mobile retail sites.”
Tinyview’s clever concept is not only a boon to m-commerce, but a great motivator for brands yet to hop on the omnichannel train. It offers a clear-cut, successful case study for seamless mobile commerce sites that offer great customer experiences on-the-go.
Read the full story at Internet Retailer.
