New ShopCatch App Lets You Find Deals on the Go

As the Daily Deal writer for Walletpop.ca, it's pretty obvious I love a good deal. Discounts? Bring them on. Two-for-one purchases? I'm there. Percentages off full price? Love it. Coupons? I happily clip them and bring them when I shop.

Of course, in order to find deals it means spending a few hours a week checking out websites and emails and collating them. Then you have to remember to bring the coupons with you when you shop.

ShopCatch may have the solution for deal lovers and it's free.

Like this article? Don't miss another one. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook .ShopCatch bills itself as "a mobile destination for location-based listings of promotions, sales and exclusive offerings at top retailers and malls near each user." It was created by TorStar Digital, part of TorStar, the parent company of the Toronto Star newspaper and other subsidiaries.

In other words, the deals come to you instead of you going to the deals. According to TorStar, Users can redeem a deal using ShopCatch in three easy steps:

1.Use the app or mobile website to locate a deal near where they are

2. Tap on the details of the deal to pull up its promotional code or coupon

3. Show the promotional code or coupon to the cashier to redeem the deal

TorStar Digital's Megh Gupta, Manager, Corporate Strategy and New Ventures said that the reason TorStar Digital developed the ShopCatch app was because, "For us, TorStar is a media company and we're in the business of connecting businesses and consumers. We started thinking, 'Ok, we've done online and print and mobile is the next frontier."

The next question was how to capitalize on mobile and the answer was retailers. Gupta said they looked at how people were using mobile to shop. "We already had access to all these great deals so how do we harness the power of that and bring it to the consumer? In one sense it's like bringing the digital flyer to the palm of your hand."

The app is geo-tagged. When the app is opened, it will find your location and then start feeding you information on deals located near you. Gupta points out that ShopCatch also has a search function so if you only want to find shoes, you can sort by pressing the search button and typing in the word 'shoes' and only receive those results.

Of course there is a revenue model for the application. Gupta said that retailers can pay to be on the app and are showcased to users but paid advertisers aren't the only ones on the application. There is a full-time deals editor whose job is to search for and find the best deals in the city and load them into the app.

If you're a BlackBerry user, the app isn't available and is only available for download for iPhones and Androids. There isn't a BlackBerry app because it would require an app to be developed for the various models but Gupta points out that the mobile website operates just like the app and is compatible with BlackBerries.

ShopCatch is currently only in Toronto but the plan is to expand the ShopCatch app across Canada.

A quick look through the app shows deals at the Gap, Roots, Town Shoes and Future Shop - all walking distance from my location.

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