Wize Launches the First Shopping by Use Platform for Consumer Products

Beta Launch Features Patent-Pending Technology That Provides Personalized Product Recommendations by Asking Users ‘What Product?’ and ‘How Will You Use It?’

Wize (wize.com), a Web site enabling consumers to quickly find the best products based on their needs, announces today the beta launch of the first shopping by use platform for consumer products. The new interface is clean and easy to navigate, asking the two most important questions for consumers — ‘What product are you looking for?’ and ‘How will you use it?’ Funded by the Mayfield Fund and Bessemer Venture Partners, Wize’s shopping by use platform is available for free to consumers at Wize.com.

“As consumers, we think in terms of ‘I want a new digital camera for my vacation,’ but a retail database doesn’t think in terms of uses or needs. It only knows how to generate facts like product specs and pricing,” said Wize president and CEO Tom Patterson. “Wize solves that disconnect problem and gives relevant product recommendations to consumers based on human thinking.”

Users simply tell Wize what product they are looking for and how they want to use it, and its patent-pending semantic technology provides a personalized list of the top products for their needs, based on what the Web says.

A single platform for product research solves the problem plaguing retailers and consumers, that is, the amount of time it takes to conduct product research online. According to Forrester Research, online product research will affect nearly $1 trillion in U.S. commerce by 2012.

As consumers become more strapped for time and dependent on the Web for information, online retailers will have to evolve the online shopping experience to better meet those needs.

To help online retailers and media properties overcome these challenges, Wize is also introducing its partnership syndication strategy to provide its shopping by use platform’s social research product summaries, usages and reviews to retail and media partners. Wize will be announcing partnerships in the near future.

To learn more about Wize, visit wize.com. To inquire about partnership syndication opportunities, visit wize.com/partners or email bizdev {at} wize(.)com.

About Wize

Wize simplifies product research by helping consumers find products based on their needs instead of technical product features. Users simply tell Wize what product they are looking for and how they want to use it, and its patent-pending semantic technology provides a personalized list of the top products for their needs, based on user and expert reviews on the Web. Wize, headquartered in San Mateo, Calif. with offices in Minneapolis, Minn., is privately held and funded by Mayfield Fund and Bessemer Venture Partners. For media inquiries, contact Lauren Sanders of Dittoe PR at 317-202-2280 or lauren {at} dittoepr(.)com. For company information, visit wize.com.
Contacts

Dittoe Public Relations
Laura Kassenbrock, 317-202-2280 x. 19
laura {at} dittoepr(.)com
or
Lauren Sanders, 317-202-2280 x. 10
lauren {at} dittoepr(.)com