Retrevo’s Vipin Jain on Vertical Search (1)

Friday, June 1, 2007 | 4 comments

A Vertical Search engine called Retrevo has come up a few times in our coverage of the Gadget Geeks segment. Here, I interview the CEO, Vipin Jain.

SM: Please describe your business value proposition and your product.
VJ: Retrevo is a web service that helps consumers with shopping and support of tech products. Retrevo is your trusted advisor throughout the lifecycle ownership of tech products, from education, research, deals, price comparison, getting the best out of the products you bought, accessorizing, using, fixing issues to servicing your products. Retrevo is the only company that helps consumers “before and after”.

SM: What is your target customer? (Please provide a good segmentation perspective)
VJ: Mass market, from techie/enthusiasts/advanced to mainstream consumers who are comfortable using the web. But the needs (what applications / use cases appeal to them) and usage of advanced users varies significantly from the mainstream consumers. Advanced users use Retrevo throughout the lifecycle and seem to spend lot of time researching and learning. Mainstream consumers use online medium for a subset of lifecycle needs (currently). Lifecycle experience needs to be simplified further to make it work for mainstream consumers.

SM: What is the competition, and how do you differentiate?
VJ: Every site that sells consumer products. Retrevo builds an affinity with consumers because it helps them “before and after” unlike shopping sites who walk away after a transaction is completed.

[Part 1]
[Part 2]
[Part 3]
[Product Review]

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