Dive Brief:
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Spring, a digital shopping mall company founded by two techie brothers set to launch this summer, announced it has received $7.5 million in Series A funding.
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Board chairman David Tisch has said that it isn’t very easy to shop on a smartphone, and that the app developed by him and his brother, CEO Alan Tisch, aims to address that.
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The app is reportedly somewhat influenced by Alibaba’s image-heavy online marketplace Tmall, and will be aimed at more luxury goods than what is typically found on Amazon or eBay. Indeed, the buzz is that it's “Instagram as a mall” or “Instagram with a buy button.”
Dive Insight:
The Tisch brothers’ Spring app is clearly aiming for an upscale customer, and the investment it has attracted underscores David Tisch’s contention that mobile shopping hasn't truly arrived. Amazon's look is nowhere near Spring's marketed chic vibe, so the two marketplaces may not be going after the same customers.
Still, the idea of a sophisticated mobile marketplace app comes just weeks after Amazon unveiled its phone, which it says — and the phone promises — to make shopping easier for shoppers who have that phone. That begs the question: Why didn’t Amazon simply develop an app?
