With mobile commerce ripe for disruption, we’re seeing a growing number of startups aiming to help consumers shop and purchase more efficiently on their mobile phones. The latest company to join the mix is Tinyview, which aims to be the go to “mobile browser” for product search and shopping.
Tinyview is the brainchild of Raj Lalwani, who earlier this year sold his startup birthday and holiday reminders Facebook app, Social Calendar to Walmart. The iOS app aims to solve the pain point of mobile purchasing via search remove friction in mobile commerce when it comes to search and checkout.
Here’s how it works. You pre-load all of your checkout information, including addresses, email, payments and more. Within the app, you can search for a product or item, and Tinyview will show results from retailers like Amazon, Nordstrom, Zappos, Fandango, and others. If you find an item you’d like to purchase on Nordstrom, the app can automatically auto-fill all the information into the checkout process.
Tinyview’s business model is to earn affiliate fees from completed transactions. We’re told that affiliate fees can vary from a few cents for a movie ticket purchase to over $10 for a $150 purchase from a retailer.
However, Tinyview isn’t the only startup trying to disrupt the mobile commerce search space. Dashlane aims to fulfill a similar function when it comes to the checkout process. But Lalwani hopes to differentiate Tinyview with the element of search, and a singular focus on making commerce a more frictionless experience on the iPhone.
While Tinyview will be facing competition from a variety of sources, the startup highlights a definite area for disruption in the mobile commerce space—the checkout experience.
And this ties back to creating a mobile wallet on your phone to make any checkout process simple. And along with the growing number of startups who are tackling the mobile wallet, we know Apple is entering this space as well.
