Text comparison shopping is becoming popular. A lot of the regular comparison shopping sites have taken cues from the Google SMS service and have launched their own service for providing Prices by SMS.
I came across Smarter.com today and played around with their SMS service. Works quiet well for electronics and similar stuff. All the user has to do is a be a bit specific in his search. The service works best when you provide the Manufacturer name and SKU Number, Providing a partial product name and SKU or Model number gives accurate results too. Needless to say, their SMS number is now in my phone book.
Try it yourself: Text the Product Name + Model Number of any product to the number 610-7627837 and you will get an SMS back with the best price. To find the Model number etc.. try looking on the sides of the box
I searched for "Win TV 1033" and got back the exact prodcut with the pricing available at Smarter.com. I am so glad that I did not over pay and got it cheaper to SCANBUY ;-) earlier. I did try entering the UPC but that did not give me any results at all, but who's complaining :-).
Taking on Google SMS? :-) ... I love their approach. Check out How we stack up on their website. Gives a clear indication of what the relatively smaller firms should aim for in terms of service to stay afloat with the BIG G around. I agree with the Smarter team completely. Way to go guys.
It would be so cool to have an MMS service where we could just send the photo of the product and get back the prices.
ReplyDelete