![Qponix Provides a Coupon Widget for Retailers [The Startup Review]](https://helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/archives/06ak9LUSpP5JWBc0hGUOvsz/hero-image.fill.size_1248x702.v1647017197.png)
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STARTUP DETAILS:
Company Name: Qponix
20 word description: Qponix offers retailers and manufacturers the opportunity to engage consumers during purchase planning and extend brand engagement through a portable widget.
CEO's 100 word description: Qponix provides retailers and consumer goods manufacturers the opportunity to engage with consumers during the purchase decision through a widget-based advertising network. Qponix seamlessly integrates promotion tools and coupons into an expanded lifestyle-related and organizational environment for consumers, placing the brand prominently and powerfully within the buying process.
Mashable's Take:
The example given is of a Qponix-powered widget for grocer Meijer's MealBox service. The MealBox service helps you plan your week's meals by offering a recipe search feature that is automatically converted into a shopping list. With the Qponix widget, a customer can search for recipes, select the day on which the recipe will be used, and print the automated shopping list, which is complete with coupons.
The shopping list can be customized--if you already have parsley but you need Rosemary for a particular recipe, you can remove parsley from the shopping list. And if you think some Basil will make the recipe complete but it's not part of the recipe given through this widget, you can add that item to the list yourself.
Marketing is important for retailers, so on this widget you'll also see a section for their specials. If a customer doesn't care to plan an entire week's meals but would like to save some cash on groceries, they can check out this section. There are some pretty basic filtering options for search results, but for widgets used for recipe planning such as MealBox's, I'd like to see search and filter options for the Specials section, which can be cumbersome to navigate otherwise.
As Qponix appears to use Widgetbox for its widget offerings, there's very easy ways in which end users can post their widgets across the Web and on their own start pages. For a customer base such as the one used for Mealbox, however, I imagine a more direct approach for providing a desktop version of the widget would be useful.