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Why shopping on mobile is broken

8 points| rjjacobson | 13 years ago |blog.getrockerbox.com

10 comments

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andyjsong|13 years ago

I use my phone in a different way to purchase products. I was recently on a camping trip and we were playing a game of "Cards Against Humanity," I thought it was fun and wanted to buy a set. I fired up Amazon's app and scanned the barcode. Confirmed the purchase and then in a 3-5 days I had the game. It took less than 20 seconds even with limited internet connectivity.

In this case, I got to test out the product, liked it and bought one for myself. I don't know if I would do the same with swiping left and right to get a product that I would ultimately purchase without trying it out first, unless there were some solid reviews backing up the product.

There are apps like Fancy, but they are image heavy and slow to load. I really don't think it's the right strategy in getting people to buy a product.

jeffehobbs|13 years ago

Amazon works great on mobile. Sounds like shopping on mobile is broken for you.

rickotoole|13 years ago

I agree, Amazon has put together a great product for mobile when you know what you are looking to buy, similar to the use case described by andy andyjsong. However, I would argue that this use case does not capture all shopping experiences. Many shoppers are preference oriented and need a way to browse through products while making a decision (e.g, apparel, travel)

codenerdz|13 years ago

I dont know, its not broken for me: I cant tell you how many times ive compared prices for something im looking at to Amazon and placed an order right there if the price difference was significant enough.

Where does Rockerbox source the products it sells? Is it simply a mobile facade for a shopping.com API or amazon referrals?

rjjacobson|13 years ago

Amazon is great for getting a pricing point of comparison - can't argue with that. In fact Amazon is great if you know exactly what you want to be / for finding the best price. I'd argue it's not the best place to find what you want.

We source from each individual retailer. No APIs.

DGCA|13 years ago

Swipe one way to like, the other to dislike? I do not like that. I'm used to navigating forward and back using those gestures.

Also, and I know I'm being nitpicky, but there's an empty button on the top right of your mockup.

zeckalpha|13 years ago

What about the additional security implications?