Thompson LLP Managing Partner Ben Thompson is quoted in a recent Digital Commerce 360 article, “Phia Enters Price-Comparison Space for Ecommerce and Fashion.” The article highlights the launch of Phia, a new price-comparison shopping app and mobile browser extension co-created by entrepreneurs Sophia Kianni and Phoebe Gates, daughter of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Phia is designed to instantly compare prices for both new and secondhand items, pulling data from more than 40,000 retail sites. The app/extension helps users determine whether an item’s price is high, typical, or fair.
Thompson notes that Phia faces significant competition from established platforms like Google Shopping, which offers advanced search functionality and pricing filters. He emphasizes the importance of delivering a superior user experience and suggests that Phia may need to evolve beyond basic price comparison features. “I would expect that the brand Phia would need to expand into original content and offer reasons to use the app other than just price comparison,” Thompson says.