August 18, 2009
Op Ed By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team
For online ecommerce shops, bringing their storefront to an iPhone app has gained huge popularity over the last 6 months. Now add HSN.com to the list of companies who are going live with an app so iPhone users can make purchases at their store directly. HSN might be more well known for their 24-hour basic cable shopping channel (the Home Shopping Network) but their online ecommerce operations have been a strong piece of their business resulting around 30% of their sales. The iPhone app is already showing signs of popularity in part because HSN made it free unlike their long time rival QVC. QVC only has a paid app that is $2.99 and limited to displaying items sold through QVC in the UK. HSN also indicated that they plan to bring the app to other smart phones in the future.
The HSN app has a variety of ways in which you can sort through products including by designer, clearance promotions, most popular, or those with free shipping. They even have a “shake2shop” game where you shake the iPhone and the app gives you random product recommendations. This is a very similar concept to the UrbanSpoon random food recommendation app you may have seen earlier this year in one of the popular iPhone app commercials. One of the best features of the HSN app is that users can stream the live show if within range of a strong WiFi signal. HSN is doing everything it can to stay on the cutting edge of technology to ensure that they are able to be everywhere their customers can shop from.
Amy is the co-founder of ZippyCart. She went to school for film in Cleveland, Ohio and ended up working in the field of viral video marketing, which eventually led her to her real profession: SEO. When she's not writing for ZippyCart, she can be found out and about Seattle, WA.
