Check it Out: Slyce — A New Kind of Photoshopping

Have you ever seen someone wearing a nice watch and wondered where they purchased it? Or tasted a great bottle of wine but didn't want to ask the price of it at a restaurant? Technology from Slyce Commerce, a visual-based purchasing system provider, is the solution to your problem.

Dubbed the "Shazam of retail," Slyce is a visual-based purchasing app that allows smartphone-wielding consumers to snap photos of any items they want — whether they view them in a storefront window, catalog, print ad, on the body of someone else, etc. — and in return get product reviews, pricing and exclusive discounts for those products through a seamless user experience. The app returns a Pinterest-like array of 30 images to 40 images for each search, with the most relevant results at the top.

Users can then immediately purchase the products from directly within the Slyce app, with the option of having them delivered to their home or directed to the nearest available outlet or store for pickup. 
Eventually, the app will allow users to store payment information to facilitate easy in-app purchasing. For now, however, the app's users are linked to the retailer's checkout page to complete the purchase process.

"Giving consumers the ability to act on an impulse to buy a product at the very point it catches their eye is a compelling proposition," said Cameron Chell, CEO of Slyce Commerce, in a company press release.

While the Slyce app certainly offers its users a compelling service, retailers can also reap great benefits from it. After all, the app enables brands to engage with consumers at their moment of interest. Retailers and brands may sell items through the app by feeding Slyce their product catalog or by allowing the app to access their order management systems directly. Slyce charges participating retailers a fee for every transaction they get that's the result of a Slyce search; the fee depends on the size of the retailer.

Slyce gives users additional discounts when they share their purchases via social media. If a consumer taps through search results and purchases an item, for example, they have the option to tag a picture of it and share it with other Slyce users as well as on social media.

Additionally, consumers who are the first to provide images of specific products that they purchased via Slyce and tagged with information about the name and brand of those images will receive a small percentage of the fee that Slyce collects on each transaction for the items that use their images.

Slyce is currently working with brands to test an Android version of the app, while an iOS beta version was scheduled to be released in August. A launch across all mobile platforms is scheduled for January 2014.

Slyce's visual integrated technology is one of the first platforms to create "instant e- commerce." Its simple design and catalog-like display of products takes all the complications out of using the app, eliminating what can be the tedious task of looking for a particular item.

The discovery-to-purchase technology offered by the Slyce app gives instant gratification to consumers, while at the same time helping to generate revenue for brands and retailers. Finally, and most importantly, Slyce allows consumers to never again have to ask their friends, "Where'd ya get that?"