Price Check: Frucall Takes Comparison Shopping Mobile
Say you want to buy a new blender. You go out to your local big box retailer and spot something you like, at a reasonable price. But, you wonder, could a better deal be found online?
Frucall allows consumers to do a price check instantly from their mobile phone. The service recently introduced a new advertising platform, Frucall SmartAds, which imbeds targeted ads into the calls.
When users call 1-888-Do-Frucall, they are prompted to enter a product’s UPC barcode. The system then does a search and gives the shopper the best current online prices for that exact item from online aggregators like Amazon, Shopping.com and Yahoo!Shopping, which in turn represents hundreds of online merchants, notes Antony Milner, vice president of marketing.
The SmartAds platform uses the shoppers telephone number and zip code to provide ads that are geographically sensitive ads, as well as ads that are related to the item queried.
“In many instances, advertisers will want to reaffirm a particular query, so the advertising might tell you it would be a smart choice to buy that item,” says Milner. “Then, there’s also the opposite which is presenting alternatives [to that item] including offer-based advertising.”
Over 25,000 people have tried Frucall, which is free to consumers, notes Milner. Users do not have to set up an account to participate. Those with accounts, however, can store information on previous searches and use the “buy now” option to order products through the service.
Price comparison data is sent to users via a voice recognition system. “It’s a very efficient way of presenting that information when you’re out shopping at a point of sale,” he says.
Milner notes that the company is considering taking Frucall global. “The system is automated to able to run info through translation engines, so we do see the possibility of foreign language versions in the future.”
