Qwiqq

Qwiqq operated as a mobile-first social commerce platform, targeting small businesses and local merchants seeking to leverage social networks for sales. The company was founded in 2010 by Jack Wrigley and John Phan and was headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Wrigley's background involved building value in early-stage companies, having reportedly raised over $35 million and delivered $250 million in sales across his ventures. The company participated in the Tech Wildcatters accelerator program in the spring of 2012.

Qwiqq's core business centered on a mobile application for iOS devices that enabled merchants to create shoppable posts. A seller could take a photo of a product, add a description and price, and then instantly share this shoppable post across multiple social channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, as well as via SMS and email. This model was designed to bridge the gap between social media engagement and direct sales, allowing transactions to occur both within the app and on other networks. The platform's key feature was the integration of PayPal, which embedded a "buy" button directly into the shared posts, aiming to create a frictionless purchasing process for consumers. This transformed social networks into direct selling channels for merchants. The app also offered features like social analytics, user commenting and messaging, and location-based discovery to help users find products from nearby merchants.

The service was initially free for merchants, with revenue generated through a 3.5 percent transaction fee paid to PayPal on each sale. Qwiqq established a significant distribution partnership with Constant Contact, making the app available to their large user base of small and medium-sized businesses and allowing users to create email campaigns directly from the app. In its early years, Qwiqq reported strong user engagement, with a 92% return rate, and noted that over $12 million worth of products had been shared through the platform by late 2012. However, according to market data, the company ceased operations around August 2017. Later information indicates a pivot or relaunch attempt around a blockchain-based model with an ICO in 2018 under CEO Kenneth Peh, but the original social commerce app appears to be defunct.

Keywords: social commerce, mobile commerce, local merchants, small business sales, PayPal integration, shoppable posts, social selling, multi-channel retail, Tech Wildcatters, Jack Wrigley, John Phan, Constant Contact partnership, mobile payments, iOS app, direct-to-consumer, social media marketing, e-commerce platform, digital coupons, retail tech, Dallas startup