There has certainly been a lot of talk lately about M-commerce - on this blog and around the blogosphere. The topic of shopping on your mobile phone is heating up, with USA Today doing a feature today on mobile phone shopping.
One service that gets mentioned in the article is Slifter, a relatively new mobile application from GPShopper.
So what is Slifter?
Slifter is the first mobile local product search tool, so you can get relevant local information while you are out-and-about shopping.
There are a few different versions of the free product- a WAP version that you can access by typing slifter.com into your mobile browser or a J2ME version that you download to your phone. I tend to prefer running these services as an application rather than through my browser, so I went ahead and downloaded the application to my cellphone. The app is about 140KB and it downloaded and installed flawlessly.
Your immediately asked to “register” which involves inputting your zipcode so that when you search, you get local results.
From the main page, you can search for products as well as access your own shopping list. In the search, I typed in “iphone” and I instantly received 7 pages of results with the top listing being an 8GB iphone. By clicking on that link, I get 4 results showing me where I can buy the iphone nearby. The closest one listed was 1.46 miles away which happens to be the local Apple store. By clicking on this link, you get a nice picture of the product, a map to the store as well as store hours.
All in all, a very clean and friendly user interface. Not a lot about the product I can criticize although it would be great if I could “click-to-call” the store to make sure it was in-stock, etc.
If you’re a local merchant, Slifter is currently offering a FREE service to test the waters by listing up to 100 products across 10 stores. If you have more stores or products you would like to list, you’ll need to contact Slifter’s Client Services team.
Slifter also provides a premium version which is available today as a subscription service from Sprint for $1.99 per month with other carriers coming soon. The main benefit of the premium version is the integration of GPS to search for products and deals from your favorite local and online stores. It’s the first mobile local product search application that employs GPS technology to find products at neighboring retail locations.
“Sprint’s industry-leading GPS applications make everyday tasks like shopping easier for our customers by providing relevant information when and where they need it,” said George Ranallo, director of wireless data applications for Sprint. “With Slifter from GPShopper, Sprint customers can use their phones to find the closest retailer to purchase a desired item, without needing to check a phone book, Internet listing or map.”
I did not try out the premium version but hope to one of these days. I’d certainly encourage you to try out the free version by entering your cellphone number on the online form here. As far as useful cellphone applications, Slifter ranks high on my list and I’m sure if you try it out, you’ll like it too.
UPDATE: After chatting with Slifter personnel, I learned that there is a “click-to call” feature in Slifter - you access it by selecting the Options Menu in the application. It works great, but obviously it was not super intuitive for me to know that I could do this. I think they could make that (very useful) feature clearer to the end-user.
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