Okay, so when we developed ShopSavvy we assumed most users would use it to scan items that might have a big price difference. For example, consumer electronics like TVs, DVD Players and Appliances. It turns out that we were right half of the time. 50% of the time our users scan consumer electronics - this means that half of the time our users are scanning other stuff.
What else are they scanning? 25% of the time they scan books, dvds and games. We see lots of price differences between local stores on DVDs and Games (books are pretty competitive). We also recognize almost all books, dvds and games. The remaining 25% of scans are on groceries, health and beauty products and soft goods like clothes. We don't do as well in these categories. Why? Well mainly because retailers won't give us access to prices. Without access to price and inventory from grocery stores we can't help users determine if they can save money. We are, however, getting better at identifying these items (just no prices).
How does ShopSavvy work? We access inventory and price from more than 20,000 local and online retailers. Some retailers give us private access to their prices while others offer public access via the internet. Our users want to know a) does a retailer have an item in stock (mostly local retailers) and b) how much does it cost. If this information is wrong our users usually get mad and let us know about it.
So what doesn't scan at all? Private label stuff - REI makes their own stuff or has it made for them. If I scan an REI item I may know what it is, but is almost certainly NOT sold anywhere else. This means I can't offer a comparable price on the item from another retailer. This is true for Macy's Nordstrom and other retailers that have items made exclusively for their store.
We are working on a very cool solution for groceries, soft goods and health and beauty products - I suspect it will be available in March or April (sorry it isn't faster, but we are swamped with supporting all of the new Android phones). Hope this helps. For more info check out our FAQ:
http://www.biggu.com/***
Alexander Muse, Co-Founder Big in Japan and ShopSavvy
214.550.2003
amuse@biggu.com
Big in Japan | Developers of ShopSavvy