News

Wal-Mart unveils social networking app

November 30, 2011

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has launched its first social-networking application. Shopycat, which uses Facebook data to recommend gifts to consumers, is one of the first products to come from @Walmartlabs. It's based south of San Francisco and is developing social-networking and mobile technologies for the retailer.

"Shopycat is the first step in what we think is a very strategic area for the industry as a whole," Venky Harinarayan, senior vice president of WalMart Global eCommerce and co-founder of @WalmartLabs, said in a story published on reuters.com.

The app uses data from Facebook pages to estimate a user's top 10 friends and then recommends gifts for them, based on their interests.

Wal-Mart isn't the only retail company to use Facebook to promote gift buying. In November, eBay launched Group Gifts, a service that connects eBay shoppers with Facebook friends to collectively purchase presents.

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