Buy where you shop gets a little easier

A new search app gives consumers mobile access to aggregated product reviews.

SearchReviews.jpgConsulting crowdsourced product reviews has become a common step in many consumer shopping processes. The practice, though good for the consumer, might not be so great for the brick-and-mortar retailer. If a customer comes into a store to touch and inspect products, then returns home to compare reviews before making a final selection, an online purchase becomes far more likely than the customer returning to the store.

A new app by Search Reviews may alter these shopping habits. Consumers can install the free app on a smartphone and use it to scan in bar codes from any of more than four million products. The app then shows a list of aggregated consumer reviews.

As Alexia Tsotsis from TechCrunch points out, the app has a ways to go in terms of its ability to sort by date or store, and it doesn’t yet incorporate geolocation. But having aggregated product reviews in hand could encourage more of those buy-where-you-shop consumer experiences.

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