California Apparel News

Salesorter was designed for consumers looking for online sales. The iPhone app allows users to search by location or category.

Created by San Francisco–based brother-and-sister entrepreneurs Peter Christodoulo and Thayer Christodoulo-Meicler, Salesorter incorporates real-time data and social-networking sites to connect shoppers looking for bargains with their favorite stores.

“[We] discussed the need for aggregated store floor sales data. We have favorite stores that we frequent, and it’s hard to keep updated, so we thought why not build [an app] that encourages people to go into stores while notifying consumers of sales and building a relationship with retailers?” Meicler said.

The two wanted to create an easy-to-navigate, sales-driven platform that would connect consumers with retailers while finding bargains and supporting stores.

The app recognizes in-store sales in real time and allows users to share finds with friends on Facebook and other social-media sites. The first iteration of the app used location-based social-networking site Foursquare as a check-in device to locate store sales. In the latest version, users can create a favorite-stores list and sign up for future sale alerts. The app also lets users scroll through sale detail in a carousel view, which allows for easy discovery, Meicler said.

Most Americans still appreciate physically going into a shop and making their purchase, Meicler said. “Statistics state 95 percent of transactions happen in-store,” she said. “While people are increasingly shopping online, a majority of people still prefer doing in-store shopping because they get to feel and touch the items in person. [In addition,] 46 percent of Americans only shop sales, and, naturally, a large percent focuses on apparel and accessories.”

Using in-house software based on Ubuntu, PostgreSQL and Ruby on Rails, Salesorter is different than other sale shopping apps, Meicler said. The company allows users to “rate the sales”—a five-tag rating system that measures quality of sale, how frequently a sale occurs and how rich the offering may be—which helps users assess the value of their purchase and the sales offerings.

The company currently hosts major national brands and is looking to grow into a one-stop fashion sales destination. With great feedback, Christodoulo and Meicler have been requested to broaden channels, expanding the app for Android users.