Apnoti Aids Amazon Bargain Hunters
Apnoti, a free online shopping community, is
attempting to profit from two retail trends: consumer desires for low prices and the popularity of the Amazon.com e-commerce site.
By registering on
Apnoti.com, Amazon customers can have most products on the site monitored for price fluctuations. Once a product reaches or falls below a price set by the customer, an email automatically notifies them of the price change. Apnoti says it checks prices at least once per hour and that it cannot track items that are out of stock or have specifications such as size and color.
Apnoti uses the Amazon Associates Program to make a profit – if customers click on the product through a link in the notification email, Apnoti receives a portion of the sale proceeds. Currently Apnoti is available for Amazon customers in the U.S., UK, Germany and France. The company says it plans to expand both the number of online retailers it tracks and countries in which it operates.
According to a
recent study of U.S. spending habits by the Bank of America, a high percentage of U.S. consumers are comparison shopping, seeking advice before making purchases and participating in discount and rewards programs. In addition, Nielsen Company research shows that dollar stores
are outpacing other CPG retail channels in popularity with consumers of all income levels.
As mentioned above, Apnoti is also taking advantage of Amazon’s current popularity. Amazon experienced impressive
financial growth during fiscal 2008, with net income rising 36% and net sales rising 29%.
Retailers including
Wal-Mart and Kmart have used the Twitter social networking site to inform customers of price deals. In addition, retailers including rival online site
Overstock.com and
Sears Holding Company have launched proprietary social networking sites. Apnoti is one of the first third-party sites specifically created to combine social networking and price-tracking features connected to a retailer.
