Making Valentine’s Day Shopping a Sweet Experience A new way to shop for last minute shoppers

(ARA) – Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and if you are like most people, you’ve left the shopping until the last minute. So ,do you buy the $70 roses like everyone else, take a gamble on an online gift that might not show up in time or can you quickly find a personalized gift that shows you put some thought into it? A new online service from NearbyNow has created a new way for last minute shoppers to find the perfect gift at their local mall, and even pick it up the same day. Over 190 malls across the US run the NearbyNow service, allowing shoppers to search inventory in nearly every store in the mall using the Internet or mobile phones, check availability on an item in 10 minutes or less, and even reserve products to pick up. Shoppers who use the mobile phone service may even receive special offers for free chocolate and other Valentine’s Day specials. The service is the brainchild of Scott Dunlap, from Los Altos, Calif., who says he developed the product search for "quite selfish" reasons. “One afternoon, my wife saw a pair of boots in a magazine and tried to find them at her favorite mall while I was stuck on the bench with all the other spouses. I realized I could develop a program that would make these trips more efficient, allowing my wife to always know who carried the products she wanted, and if they were available in her size. That would make the shopping experience more pleasant for all of us – me, my wife, the retailers, and the others on the bench.” Here’s how the service works: consumers log on to www.nearbynow.com from their home computer, find their local mall and select the "Product Search" button to navigate through the process. If they know their loved one wants Kenneth Cole boots, for example, they type “Kenneth Cole boots” in the search box, and all retailers in the mall who has the shoes in stock will be listed. A customer can then click on a particular shoe, see the details, use the ‘check availability’ feature and "reserve" the product on-line for pick up at the mall. NearbyNow contacts the store, reserves the product, and sends the customer a confirming e-mail or text message. Shoppers can also send an SMS text message to NEARBY (632729) to get connected to the service at their local mall. Gretchen Mathews of Portola Valley, Calif., found the site by chance one day and has already used it a couple of times to reserve an item online. She says it’ll be a real time saver this Valentine’s Day. “I’m a busy person and my shopping strategy for Valentine’s Day has always been to preview and reserve items online before heading to the store. I used to have to log on to several different store Web sites to do that, but now I can search the whole mall from one place. It’s a fabulous tool,” she says. “Shoppers call our service ‘Google for malls’ because they can search every brand, product, and sale at the mall,” says Dunlap. “It is the most stress-free way to shop your local mall. It helps keep the focus of Valentine’s Day on the right thing – your loved one – rather than the hassles of gift buying.” If you agree, be sure to log on to www.nearbynow.com before heading out the door or send an SMS text message to NEARBY (632729) Courtesy of ARAcontent