Former Googler creates startup to help brands increase mobile commerce
A former Google manager has created his own app which will help brands and retailers increase commerce on mobile by allowing them to create their own shopping-enabled apps with ease.
Nitin Mangtani, former manager of Google Shopping, has founded his own startup called PredictSpring which has already raised $2 million in funding from investors including fashion tycoon Silas Chou’s Novel TMT Group and Beanstalk Ventures.
PredictSpring has created a mobile app development platform that allows businesses to create shopping-enabled apps without writing any code. It is only being publicly talked about now but a number of high profile businesses including Cole Haan, Eddie Bauer, Bluefly and Woodcraft are already using the app.
Mangtani crated the app after realising that the “experiences on mobile haven’t caught up with the consumer demand”. He backed his point up with a reference to a report from online analysts ComScore who found that while 60 percent of retail browsing happens on mobile devices, those devices only account for 15 percent of dollars spent.
He highlighted Uber, HotelTonight and Airbnb as some of the leading examples of how mobile commerce should operate. One of the main failures he highlights is shopping apps using “a very thin layer of native code — the moment you click away from the homescreen, you’re redirected to the mobile site.”
PredictSpring-created apps will be “100 per cent native” which Mangtani says is crucial because “the big innovations in mobile have been on the app side, rather than on the mobile web”.
The startup is doing more than just apps though; a new Commerce Gateway is being created which will make it easy for companies to add shopping capabilities and “Buy Buttons” to their online ads and social media posts.