GENERAL FAQ
What problem does Retailigence solve?
~$60B is spent annually by retailers to drive foot-traffic into their brick and mortar stores yet these same stores are likely invisible to the consumer who wants to buy a product and turns to their mobile device to find a nearby store. Retailigence solves this problem by connecting the ‘up and about’ shopper with local retailers.
What operating systems and mobile applications does the company support?
Retailigence is primarily a data and analytics company and not a software application. Our aggregated data is available to any app developer (web or mobile) developing on any operating system, via an open API.
Is Retailigence a “middleware” company?
Middleware is defined as the software that sits ‘in the middle’ between applications working on different operating systems (Unix, Windows, etc.). Retailigence is not middleware because it does not bridge any software components. Instead, we consider Retailigence to be a data-as-a-service enabler. Using our data, app developers can enable their applications by creating unique and intriguing user experiences in the realm of personal and group shopping.
Why should people use a Retailigence-enabled app as opposed to Yelp?
The data behind Yelp and other applications is strikingly different from what Retailigence offers. Yelp is all about places. It can answer the question, “where is a nearby computer store?”. Retailigence drills-down into the next level of granularity. It can answer the question about what exactly is in that store? Or, “which store is selling product X?”.
Can Retailigence integrate with location-based services like Foursquare?
Yes, but the integration onus is on the app developer. We do not preclude any application from consuming our data. We have envisioned creative scenarios where a Retailigence + Foursquare (or Gowalla) combination would make for a powerful user experience.
Are there any plans to integrate Retailigence with Paypal or Google Checkout?
The question more broadly inquires about our payment processing capabilities. Yes, as part of our roadmap we do plan to integrate with several payment processors, giving app developers multiple options that they can extend to their end users.
Does Retailigence support any kind of analytics?
Analytics are our forte. As you can see, we aggregate an amazing amount of data on consumer buying (or not buying) patterns. We can make this data available to our clients via an online, authenticated analytics dashboard.
What kinds of security/privacy control are in place for the consumer?
Retailigence never releases personal-level information to any of its clients. Furthermore, Retailigence has security measures in place to ensure retailers cannot access a competitor’s confidential information.
How does Retailigence plan to generate revenue?
Retailigence follows a CPM based revenue model where an “impression” is in response to a consumer’s explicit product-level request.
TECHNICAL FAQ
Describe the API Retailigence provides?
The Retailigence search API is available via HTTP GET or POST requests (with no difference in the results via either method), at the api.retailigence.com domain, and it returns search results in XML format.
How does a retailer integrate real retail inventory data with Retailigence?
Retailigence provides several methods of integration for the retailers. You can upload your data into our servers via FTP or use one of our pre-built connectors to pull inventory data directly from your inventory management system or data-warehouse.
How scalable realistically is the API?
We have an extremely talented engineering team that has built similar systems that have required a scaling trajectory similar to the one Retailigence requires. Our “secret sauce” powers our massive database and ensures reliability and availability to fulfill the needs of the real-time mobile buyer.
What ERP back-end systems are supported?
We currently support QuickBooks, SAP, NetSuite and FileMaker Pro.
Is it possible to do a mashup of Google Maps with Retailigence data?
Of course! Retailigence data, obtained via our API, can be easily manipulated to display address information on Google maps.
How is the API optimized for mobile applications and devices?
The API has been built from the ground up keeping in mind that the majority of its consumption will happen via the mobile channel. We’ve utilized the best in breed available technology to ensure that our API is not bandwidth “heavy” and that we return contextual data relevant to the search being performed.
What are the terms of usage for the API?
The terms of usage for the API are described in detail in our API documentation.
