Wanderful Media debuts iPhone app in time for holidays

Faith Merino · November 25, 2013 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/336c

Now shoppers can browse circulars on-the-go

Are you ready for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Cyber Week bloodbath? Retailers want YOU and they will drag you kicking and screaming into their stores if they have to. Best to just keep your head down and go quietly.

Actually, we’re approaching the busiest shopping weekend of the year. For most people, Thanksgiving weekend kicks off the holiday shopping season, and for that reason and that reason alone, newspapers usually get a big sales boost as eager shoppers grab them for the circulars (those glossy ads you normally toss out because they keep slipping out of the paper anyway).

For the digital generation, for whom print is a relic of a long-forgotten past, there’s Wanderful Media, which launched onto the scene last year with the site FindnSave.com. Today, the company is launching its iPhone app so that customers can keep track of their favorite sales and deals on-the-go. (In the days of yore, we carried a bunch of loose, wadded up circulars in our purses.)

The move makes sense. Some two-thirds of shoppers have indicated they plan to (or would like to) use their mobile devices when shopping on Black Friday to check prices and use the geo-locator to find nearby stores, according to The 2013 Find&Save Black Friday Shopping Survey. Respondents said they were also interested in using their mobile devices to browse circulars while out and about.

Wanderful Media was the brainchild of 12 major newspapers who came together to bring print circulars into the digital age. Currently, retailers spend $4 billion a year on circulars.

The new Find&Save iPhone app comes with features like a nearby sales locator, which shows the user an updated list of all the sales at local stores, new sale alerts from favorite stores, one shopping list across all devices, the ability to browse weekly ads, and the ability to share with friends.

While RetailMeNot tends to be a more general coupon/sale site across e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retail, Find&Save is really designed to drive customers to brick-and-mortar locations. Either way, circulars tend to create the most engagement among customers. Nielsen data shows that print ads drive more purchase intent than any other form of advertising, including TV and radio. Another survey found that 40% of respondents said they had searched online, visited a website, or purchased a product as a direct result of seeing a print ad in the last month. 

“Since shopping culture is more mobile and social than ever, Find&Save was reimagined for shoppers who are using technology to make everyday tasks easier,” said CEO Ben Smith, in a statement. “The new iPhone app is a major milestone as we continue to build new apps and site features for both shoppers and retailers.”

Find&Save features items from over 18,000 brands, including Nike, Apple, Gap, Revlon, Ray Ban, Coach, and more. It also includes over 375 retailers at more than 150,000 locations, including Macy’s, Whole Foods, Target, Walgreens, and so on. 

 

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Wanderful Media

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With access to almost 100 million unique visitors per month throughout its network, Wanderful Media is helping retailers by engaging shoppers around local sales and products, with the intent of driving shoppers across the threshold of retail stores.

The company owns and operates Find&Save, a comprehensive collection of local sales and products available on apps for iPhone/iPad and Android devices, on FindnSave.com and on newspaper sites across the country in all 50 of the top 50 DMAs (designated market areas).

Wanderful Media is an independent company financed by a powerful group of media companies, including Advance Digital, A. H. Belo Corporation, Community Newspaper Holdings, Cox Media Group, The E. W. Scripps Company, Gannett Co., GateHouse Media, Graham Holdings Company, Hearst Corporation, Lee Enterprises, MediaNews Group, and  The McClatchy Company.

Wanderful Media represents a media industry initiative to transform the $4 billion business of traditional advertising circulars through digital innovation – just as joint media ventures such as CareerBuilder and Cars.com strengthened the industry’s position through the use of new technology.

In September 2012, Wanderful Media entered the market to connect retail advertisers with millions of consumers nationwide. The company was originally formed in November 2011 as ShopCo Holdings.

Wanderful Media is headquartered in Los Gatos, Calif., and has a development and operations office in downtown Chico, Calif.