Quick Pitch: Buyou is a virtual mall for the iPad.
Genius Idea: Puts popular stores in one simple interface, saving you from having to download and shop on different retail apps.
For Krish Jayaram, shopping on an iPad seemed more complicated than it should be.
“It’s really inconvenient to shop on iPad apps because you have to seek out individual apps for each store, learn to navigate each one and then sign up to get updates from each store,” Jayaram, founder of Buyou, told Mashable.
That’s what led Jayaram to develop Buyou - a free iPad app that puts popular stores onto one simple interface for a seamless shopping experience.
Users can search through 32 popular stores on Buyou, and browse through featured items, sale items or different categories to find what they like. They can share their favorite items on Facebook and via e-mail, or add them to their wish list. Buyou’s wish list lets you save items from different retailers all in one location.
The more you search, the more the app learns about your likes and dislikes. Buyou provides the stores with this information, and sends you updates about items you’re interested in.
Although you can search for items, Buyou redirects you to the store’s original website if you decide to buy something. The company receives an average of 6% commission for each purchase made from the app.
To save time searching for updates from your favorite stores, Buyou incorporates the retailers’ social network activity right into the app. The “Social” button takes you to one screen that filters a retailer’s activity from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Launched in April, Buyou’s storefronts include Banana Republic, Express, 1-800-Flowers.com, Gap, Zales, Nine West, Oakley, Sharper Image and Wine.com. The company is in the process of adding 125 other stores.
What do you think of Buyou? Tell us in the comments.
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
