UK startup MobiCart has unveiled its free, mobile-optimized e-commerce solution at the DEMO Fall 2010 showcase event in Silicon Valley.
MobiCart offers a free mobile storefront app development platform for Apple iOS and Android devices that includes both customized applications for the end-user, as well as a comprehensive back-end management platform. The company says that these work in tandem to allow users to engage in a totally customized mobile commerce experience that is optimized for them and their shopping via their supported mobile device.
The company says it enables businesses to save tens of thousands of dollars that would normally be required to develop their own application and mobile storefront, and also enhances branding and customer loyalty through an app that is unique to each user. All this is accomplished without CSS or the need to develop an encapsulated website on the mobile device – MobiCart is a native app on its supported operating systems.
MobiCart also works as a standalone storefront, so businesses can have their own mobile e-commerce site without having a website. MobiCart can be fully customized to match the look and feel of a mobile shop, while easily adding products and pages to the app. 
An open API means that MobiCart is easily and quickly integrated into existing shopping cart solutions, while also allowing developers to build and distribute extensions to MobiCart and take part in a growing community via its online marketplace. The MobiCart marketplace is a core aspect of MobiCart. Developers can extend MobiCart with a series of add-ons which they can give away or sell.
Raymond Kiersey, general manager of retail sales at Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline and MobiCart’s first customer, says: “We are very excited about this revolutionary new product. Our customers are busy people and MobiCart’s technology will allow them to make duty-free purchases on the go. We believe providing an easy mobile purchasing option will greatly increase sales, by aiding potential customers who otherwise haven’t the time.”
MobiCart is currently in final testing and will be available by the end of September. You can sign up to test the product and be informed when the platform is in general release here.
