Shopping application Shopsavvy is partnering with mobile deal platform Spotzot to give consumers localized and targeted deals.

The Shopsavvy app lets users search for shopping deals within 500 feet of their mobile devices. The app also uses saved data to flush out consumers’ preferences.

“When a user opens our app to get information on a product, one of the top questions they have is, ‘Are there any deals on this item?’” said Matt Weathers, vice president of product at Shopsavvy, San Francisco.

“Immediately after that, their question is, ‘Are there any other deals nearby or in this same category?’” he said.

Shopsavvy is a shopping app with the goal of giving shopping power to consumers and is available in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market.

Spotzot is a San Jose, CA-based deal search platform that aggregates sales from more than 750 retail chains.

Mobile traffic
Using geo-locating, users can browse deals, coupons and sales information on the app.

Consumers can also scan bar codes to find out where specific products are in-store and online and check out prices.

With Spotzot’s aggregation, shoppers can look for deals at more than 400,000 retail locations.

After finding deals, users can store and share them via email, Facebook and Twitter.

“The sales [on the app] change as often as daily or hourly, and Spotzot updates them frequently,” Mr. Weathers said.

“Most deal apps only provide deal information, and the consumer has to sift through thousands of deals by category or retailer, but with our app, the user is already using it to get information on items they are actually considering buying,” he said.

“We use that information to display only the deals that the consumer is likely to be interested in.”

Overwhelming deals
There is a surge of shopping apps on the mobile market, making it convenient for shoppers who do not have time to visit individual stores.

However, that also means there are piles of data for consumers to sift through, and the idea that a user can browse thousands of deals on their handsets is not realistic given the mobile, on-the-go habits.

“Shopping apps that deliver powerful and timely information to consumers in a simple way will earn their trust,” Mr. Weathers said.

“In turn, merchants are realizing that apps with high consumer usage provide an avenue to reach consumers in a highly targeted way,” he said.

Shopsavvy reported 1.9 million installments of the app in April. (see story).

Additionally, the company tapped Groupon in February to target users with location-based offers.

“ShopSavvy’s mission is to give power to consumers so they can make informed shopping decisions,” Mr. Weathers said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York