Warble-ing for a deal: Locally developed app sends bargains right to your phone

As you near the front door of a local clothing store, your phone dings, alerting you to a 10 percent discount offer on shoes inside.

You aren't really in the market for shoes, but you decide to go inside to take a look anyway and discover that there is a pair of black dress shoes you like. They are more expensive than you want to pay, so you try them on while carrying on an internal debate as to their value and how good they look on you.

The Warble app allows stores or businesses to offer discounts or information to people that are nearby.

This inner-discussion goes on for awhile, then your phone dings again - now you're offered a 15 percent discount.

Sold.

The above scenario is just one facet of Warble, a new app developed by LPG Labs, part of the local venture incubator Lamp Post Group. Warble uses recently developed beacon technology to target consumers via their cellphones, allowing restaurants, retailers and local attractions to push special offers or information to your phone when you are nearby.

The beacons are Bluetooth-based and transmit signals at low levels, some sending out a signal with a 150-foot radius and some reaching no more than a few inches. Paired with the Warble app, which is remotely filled with content by Warble staff, a business can use several beacons throughout its building with each offering something different.

Consumers choose to download the app from the Apple App Store (an Android version is due out at the start of 2016), register with their email only and customize what sort of notifications they are interested in getting. You only get the alerts when you turn on both the Bluetooth and notifications options on your phone and you are within range.

The Tennessee Aquarium was among the first local businesses to utilize the app and it created "sort of a scavenger hunt type of thing offering information and interesting facts," says Warble co-founder Jason Provonsha.

Tennessee Stillhouse, which produces Chattanooga Whiskey, utilizes the app to complement its guided tours, allowing people to read additional facts and information about the distilling process. Stillhouse Chief Operating Officer Mike Robinson says Warble made the process easy.

"They did all of the install and even generated the content," he says. "All we did was make a few changes. It was super-easy."

Provonsha's partners are Justin Junda and Peter van de Put, who lives and works primarily in France, making the trip here every six weeks or so. There are 12 employees who work in the LPG Lab, developing new ideas. In addition to growing Warble, the group is set to release Whipp, a parking app that allows people to pay to park via their phone, and another called Tippr, a tipping app, of course.

Hamilton Place developers and managers CBL & Associates use the app to let shoppers discover the best deals offered by mall retailers. Provonsha says the app is designed and managed by Warble staff to create a pleasant consumer experience and, in the mall's case, that means ensuring that your phone doesn't ding at every doorstep. Warble works with CBL staff to curate the list, coming up with one that contains the best deals each day.

People standing in line to see Santa at the mall, for instance, will be able to get a free Coke or bottled water via their Warble app, Provonsha says.

There are currently about 75 business paying the $59 a month charge to offer Warble, Provonsha says, along with about 3,000 consumers who have downloaded the app to their phone. Chattanooga businesses can try the app for free on a 90-day trial basis. Warble also is being offered in Nashville and Asheville, N.C.

"There is no card in your wallet to keep up with or tag on your key ring," Provonsha says. "You can customize it and you can unfollow a business that doesn't fit your needs."

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.