Boomerang Commerce Goes Real-Time For Apple Watch

It’s common knowledge that most consumers use their smartphones while in-store to research prices and check product reviews. Boomerang Commerce thinks retailers should be doing the same.

On Monday (Oct. 5), Boomerang Commerce announced that it had released the market’s first Apple watchOS app for data-based retailer management systems. Merchants that already subscribe to Boomerang Commerce’s inventory management and price optimization metrics service will be able to access the watchOS app free of charge.

Boomerang Commerce CEO Guru Hariharan said in the press release that the watchOS app will allow retailers to make faster decisions on products and in-store displays thanks to real-time data access.

“The future of retail lies in data-driven decisions in real-time,” Hariharan said. “Best of breed retailers like Amazon and Walmart are investing billions of dollars to build capabilities that allow them to make intelligent decisions more quickly than their competitors. Retailers that don’t invest in the future of retail technology today stand to lose market share and die.”

Though the app is still in beta, it already has several features built in that might prove popular with retail managers who prefer the Apple Watch over other devices. Because full dashboard views aren’t quite compatible with the small screen of a wearable smartwatch, Boomerang’s watchOS app is instead focused on alerts. When a competitor changes the price of an item, the app will notify the wearer as soon as it happens. The same thing goes for when items go out of stock and other merchants release new products.

With more than 3 million Apple Watches out in the wild, there should be a sizable population of retail managers who can make use of the watchOS app. Whether Boomerang Commerce’s bet on the smartwatch craze will pan out remains to be seen, but this year’s steady-approaching holiday shopping season will make for strong testing grounds.

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