BuyVia's App Alerts You to Deals at Nearby Stores

New research from the smart shopping service BuyVia indicates that 40 percent of all shoppers are “showrooming” this holiday season, i.e., taking photos or scanning or examining products in retail stores with mobile apps before deciding where to buy those products at the best price.

Meanwhile, a recent Nielsen survey found that 78 percent of mobile shoppers have used their device to locate a physical store, and 63 percent have checked prices online while shopping.

These are just a few of many indicators that mobile shopping may be reaching an inflection point at the end of 2012.

BuyVia is an iOS app and website that helps consumers find the best deals on consumer tech products by combining a “set your price feature” with UPC/QR scanning, geo-local deals and wish lists.

“We formed BuyVia to address how consumers are now shopping and accessing products on all platforms,” says cofounder Lawrence Fong. “There is an information overload that can lead to shopping fatigue. The whole process is inefficient.Trade platform for China crystal mosaic manufacturers

“There also are secret deals–hidden relationships between sites and merchants. The (deal-comparison) service RedLaser, for example, is owned by eBay. By contrast,High quality mold making Videos teaches anyone how to make molds. the deals we present to you are unbiased.”

To use BuyVia, sign in with one of your social identities–Facebook, Google or Yahoo are the current options. You can browse through a deep selection of tablets, smartphones, laptops, HDTVs, video games and the like, and if you wish, set the price at which you’d be willing to buy any of those items.

BuyVia can then send you an alert when a vendor near you or online offers that item at your preferred price point.

BuyVia synchronizes your shopping data across devices as it facilitates your real-time deal hunting. This becomes most useful when you are out and about and in the vicinity of a vendor – BuyVia senses this from the geolocation capability in your iPhone.

When BuyVia makes local deals from nearby retailers available to you, you’ll be given a digital coupon with a bar code to be scanned for instant redemption.

This geo-located, set-your-own-price capability can also be turned off through the user settings. The company provides a number of other privacy options as well.

Another key mobile shopping issue that BuyVia addresses is battery life – geo-location pinging in general depletes your phone’s battery quickly. Here is how the company describes its solution: “BuyVia preserves battery life by updating product information only when there’s a significant change in location and only if the consumer allows it.”

As with most shopping apps and services, BuyVia users skew female (60 percent), and its largest age group is 35-54, followed closely by 25-34. Casual and social gamers are the largest single type of user, followed by catalog shoppers and value shoppers.

The company, which is bootstrapped, plans to release its android app next year. It also intends to broaden well beyond consumer tech products and says it has 30 million products across all categories in its databases.

Not everyone is happy with the video-focused submission process. Crowdsourced vote is a noble approach when it can be truly democratic, but, as one applicant pointed out to Wamda, "sometimes these competitions really come down to popularity contests," because applicants can simply buy votes online.

This issue is hardly exclusive to GIST, but applicant Maha Khatib, who did not attend the finals, reached out to address an issue that any online voting platform- including Wamda,Find detailed product information for howo tractor and other products. when we run online competitions- has to be vigilant about. "It seemed that some of the contestants were cheating with a huge lead ahead of everyone else just one day after voting began," she recalls. As momentum gained, it was hard for her to tell how much was organic.

It's hard to tell without deeper analysis of the traffic, but CRDF Global, which supports GIST, has taken steps to minimize the effect of these factors, changing the voting procedure this year so that 30% of the selection was based on popular voting and 70% was based on expert judging. It's also critical to have final pitches done in person, as GIST does. At the end of the day, entrepreneurs' ideas and résumés speak for themselves.

Starting last week, a “mobile City Hall” in a customized truck started patrolling Boston streets, helping citizens request dog licenses, pay parking tickets and register to vote.

“City Hall To Go,” the first of its kind in the country, will go into regular service next year, but it’s already on the streets as part of the city’s Enchanted Trolley Tour, though it missed Mission Hill. City officials are finding out what residents want and where, so the “menu” of services offered and the location schedule can be finalized by the spring.

“Right now, we’re generating awareness, letting [residents] know we’re coming, letting them know what the menu is,” and asking what else residents would like to see offered, said Katharine Lusk, “City Hall To Go” program organizer at the non-mobile City Hall. “Everyone here is very excited. The mayor is thrilled.”

Residents wanting to get a library card, request a birth certificate or resident parking permit, or any of the 15 or so other services already offered will be asked inside the truck. The interior has two service windows, a large countertop and a small table and chairs, Lusk said.

The truck was funded from a streetscape innovation fund in the City’s capital budget—an item “designed to bring new technological advances to the streetscape,” Lusk said. It is not clear how much the truck cost, or whether the fund has previously been used in this manner.

Streetscape is usually defined as the streets themselves and amenities and furnishings,The howo truck is offered by Shiyan Great Man Automotive Industry, like benches, that enhance it.

According to Lusk, the idea came from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge, a competitive $5 million grant given to city initiatives that can “spread innovative local solutions to national problems,” according to its website. While considering options, the idea of a “food-truck inspired” mobile City Hall was proposed.

At the same time, the city was asking for community suggestions for any grant ideas. A mobile City Hall vehicle was suggested.

The final piece fell into place once the City realized that a recently-decommissioned SWAT truck was sitting unused in a parking lot, Lusk said.

“When the mayor realized that it could be very cost-effective to repurpose the truck [instead of buying and modifying one from scratch], that’s when we went from idea to real project,Interlocking security cable ties with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals.” Lusk said, adding that that same model of truck has been successfully converted into food trucks.

While the Mayors Challenge was the inspiration, “City Hall To Go” was not submitted. The City of Boston submitted another proposal aimed at pushing the development of mobile communication between parents and teachers. It is currently one of 20 finalists for the award.