Stores Clueless About Mobile Barcode Scanning Applications?
With the rise of app-laden smartphones like the iPhone and Google's Android OS, now on T-Mobile's G1, many penny-pinching shoppers have downloaded barcode scanning applications onto their mobile devices. These apps allow consumers to compare the prices of merchandise on a store's shelf to competing stores in the area just by taking pictures with their smartphone's camera. The prices are instantly retrieved and displayed on the mobile phone so consumers can know before they buy if they're getting a good deal.
Although consumers may be catching on to this barcode-scanning trend, some stores are still in the dark. For example, a Target store in Michigan recently requested a shopper to stop scanning merchandise, saying it went against store policy. The customer reported the event to the application's makers, Big in Japan, whose app Shop Savvy is a popular download for Android handsets.
Big in Japan called the Target store in question and spoke to the manager, who indicated that she was not aware of the policy. We also contacted Target's corporate headquarters to confirm Target's policy, or lack thereof, but we first had to explain the application to the company representative. They had never heard of such a thing before! (As it turns out, Target has no policy whatsoever on barcode scanning their merchandise.)
The same customer also noted they had visited Sam's Club, where they demonstrated the application to a store employee who seemed "confounded that such technology even existed," wrote the user.
Instant Price Match Is Retail's Future
Although this is just anecdotal evidence from one customer, it's entirely believable that without concrete store policies in place, you're going to encounter rogue employees here and there who have no idea what you're doing and will ask you to stop.
On the flip side, stores that do get hip to this trend may decide to implement store policies that ban scanning, once they realize that customers could discover their high prices. A post on AdLab for example, a blog about advertising and marketing, suggests retailers do just that. They also recommend retailers should consider investing in a a cell phone jammer. They even provide a "No iPhones on Premises" sign for printout.
That doesn't seem to be a very proactive way of dealing with the technology. In fact, it reminds us of how both the music and movie industry attempted to quash the pirating of songs and films: they just tried to make it stop. Instead of going a route destined for failure and trying to shut down barcode scanning altogether, retailers could choose to embrace the trend. They could offer easy-to-find barcodes on their promotional items with signage encouraging customers to compare the price instantly with other stores in the area. They could make barcode scanning the new advertising circular.
Hopefully, stories like those of the Shop Savvy customer will remain isolated incidents and no other store employees will bother customers looking to save money. If you've used barcode scanning applications and have experiences to share, please let us know in the comments.
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There are so many ways to use this technology.
Any analog information can be encoded, in a square comprised smaller black and white squares called a QR code.
The smart phone reader should be able to read these as well as standard bar codes.
See the example on my blog's home page. http://www.twitterthoughts.com
More info and links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code
How do you think stores can be proactice with these scanners? I could see stores that offer low prices have a policy to encourage shoppers to look, but other than that it's difficult. Either way they should help. Even if a competitor has a less expensive price, people do value loyalty and helpfulness and if a store is friendly they will be rewarded in the end. Maybe not on the initial purchase, but on word of mouth of good customer service.
Craig
https://www.budgetpulse.com//
At Target customers could request a barcode scanner to set up their Wedding wish list. Then just hold the scanner and no one will notice you're actually using your phone.
In the USA it isn't currently legal for citizens to own cell phone jammers. But if a store plans to post that I can't use my phone in their big store, I'll simply find another place to shop.
Wow, so instead of standing behind their prices, they ban something that encourages buying....classic
Similar thing happened to me at borders. I wasn't barcode scanning but taking pictures of book covers to build up my "to read" list on goodreads.
In the US a cell phone jammer would violate the law and get you in trouble with the FCC.
Do any of these kind of apps exist for a Palm OS phone? If so, does any one know names?
Even though I don't yet have a smart phone. If I walked up to a store/into a store and found out that they banned cellphones or anything of the like I will guarantee that I will never shop at said store.
If they do the "no scanning" thing, I'm going to write an app that identifies those stores on google maps and notifies uses prior to shopping there. You know "for the store's benefit."
At www.itrackmine.com you can use the scanner to access their site to comparatively check prices, friend's giftlists and wish lists, stored shopping lists, etc.
Here's the link to the mobile address: www.1tm.mobi
Snappr for iPhone has become my new best friend for comparison shopping. Circuit City is closing 155 stores nationwide for "underperformance." One of those is in my neighborhood. I went in to see if they had any good deals on external USB or Firewire hard drives. Their "20% off" sale price was still $50 more than a competitor's everyday price.
Instant price matching = great idea.
I love that shopping is going this way. Even more than price matching, shoppers will be able to use these technologies in retail locations to find reviews, deals from other retailers, and related products.
Wow, thanks for the mention Sarah! I will keep you posted as we get more details on stores that try to stop barcode scanning in their stores. There is some talk about doing a 'ShopSavvy' flash mob in a Best Buy, see here:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=35668072429
I must be missing something---how is this any different from just looking at the price tag?
Paul -- This is to compare the price tags to other stores. It might say $99.99 on the price tag, but your phone will tell you that it's only $79.99 down the street.
I used my iphone to go onto Walmarts' webpage (which is tailored for an iphone by the way) and pulled up the online price of WalE: price was $23 while the in-store price was $39 for the same 3-disc edition. I told this to the employee at the electronics area and was told that they do not match their online prices. While I see that for some items that aren't carried in store, this is just idiotic since I can order it online and have it 'shipped to store' and pay the same price. There is no sales tax in my state, so the price would be the same.
However, when I took the DVD up front and showed the cashier my phone with the price indicated, she sided with me and had a supervisor overide the price and they honored it.
Use GPS to share the affiliate commission with the local site.
Finally something positive from the ano maSSistas, thank you ano Franco, I will change the word fighter as soon as I can. Don’t get confuse, it means I fight for democracy in my country, off course you already new this.
It seems like this could probably be done via SMSing in the UPC's number to a comparison site. No special software required.
NeoMedia Technologies grandfathered this technology back in the mid 90's and have been doing mobile code scanning and comparison shopping via UPC codes long before any other company in this space.
NeoMedia on ABC & NBC News circa 2004:
http://www.qode.com/videos/PaperClickOnAbc7.wmv
http://www.qode.com/videos/PaperClickOnNbc8.wmv
NeoMedia has a rich patent portfolio that covers scanning barcodes with a camera enabled mobile device to connect to the Internet, comparison shop, and/or retrieve online content.
http://www.neom.com/13.html
Really interesting article and worrying recommendations in the Ad Lab link...) Got me thinking:
http://www.perkler.com/blog/
Justin
I think those recommendations were implied as a joke...I mean if you follow the link for "cell-phone jammer" on either site it clearly states that they're illegal in this country. In that vein, another suggestion might be for employees to toss every iPhone that enters the store into a bucket of water located at all entrances.
Here is a company that I believe has the best “mouse trap” for a mobile Payment Gateway:
The payment gateway that the Company TreasureCom is offering is one based on a mobile platform tied to the online shopping cart.
The basic advantages for a Merchant:
• Payment are in real time
• Relatively very small cost to implement and for merchants that already uses online payment gateways such as PayPal the implementation may take as little as 1 hour.
• It will cost the merchant less, given that the interchange rate would be 1% instead of the current interchange rate most merchant pays (which I would be willing to guess is much more than 1%, I would guess between 2%-3.5%). This 1% interchange rate would no doubt provide the merchant with a lot of savings and in an economy like this and based on what is happening with credit cards at the moment this is an area where the merchants may save money and any savings today I am sure would be welcomed by the Merchant.
• The funds would be credited directly to Merchant’s bank account within 3 banking days by way of the ACH network very much the same as the current methods.
For the customers there are at least a few advantages.
• The customer will not need to provide either the payment processor (TreasureCom) or the Merchant his/her banking/credit/debit card information. The customer would “push” funds directly from his her online banking facilities hence negating the need to provide banking/credit/debit card information. We are aware that a lot of customers are a bit concern about online security. This method would greatly address that concern.
• The payment transaction is generated by the customer from his/her mobile phone using text messaging and the member then may go online to complete the transaction not dissimilar to the experience of shopping with a credit/debit card.
• It would cost the customer approximately $0.55 ($0.30 by the company and approximately $0.25 by the mobile carrier to process).
Initially only customers that use AT&T or T-Mobile are be able to participate but within a three month period the company expect that all mobile carrier networks within the USA would be supported.
You don't even really need a barcode scanner.
I use my cellphone to get online price comparisons all the time. I just type in the ten digit bar code number and text message it to FruCall.com's number. A few seconds later I get a response with the lowest on-line prices.
It's a great way to save money in Wal-Mart. I check the price on a DVD, find it's cheaper on-line…then, by the time I've gotten home, I've completely forgotten that I ever wanted to buy it. Money saved!
Sarah, nice job on calling Target to get their comment.. glad to see and appreciate the effort.
banning cell phone,or barcode scan would be like banning customers from entering the shop
A better way to go about this, for stores, would be to allow flex-pricing of their products...or at least a select bunch as a trial. They could post a sign in the store that says, "We participate in FlexPrice. FlexPrice retailers include ([enter various store names and online stores]). If you find this product cheaper from a FlexPrice participant, we'll immediately match that price."
Doing something like that would make much more sense. It would drive people to the store that use those apps on their phone b/c they know they can get it for cheaper if it's available. That would help keep the business with their store and encourage other non-regular shoppers to start going there to get the deals. In the end, retailers win b/c of the increase in shoppers, publicity, etc and consumers win b/c of they end up spending less. Well, not necessarily spending less all the time b/c when you start thinking you're getting a good deal on one or two products and "saving money" you end spending more. So just buy the one product you need and leave :)
I have no idea if there even is a "FlexPrice" group. If there isn't then someone should create it...but I at least want credit for the name :)
Retailers and manufacturers should not attempt to shut mobile barcode scanning down, but they should figure out how to make their own voices heard and to influence the buying process.
Retailers risk experiencing what the insurance industry did. If they don't allow price comparisons, the customer simply won't consider them in the decision
Here is a really good kind of barcode scanner. It's so perfect that I never used. KDC data collector is the smallest barcode scanner in the world Compact, light and powerful reader with a rechargeable battery, OLED display, top of the line laser barcode scan engine, large memory and connections to PC, PDA and Mobile Phone using Bluetooth, Serial and USB.
You can find more information from this website.
http://www.koamtac.com
In certain jurisdictions all of your pro-scanning arguments may be for naught. It boils down to the fact that what you are in essence doing is taking a photograph, which is illegal or banned by policy in many stores and states.
Is a camera a scanner? Try to convince a judge that it isn't. By the time you are done with that you are surely out more than you had hoped to save.
Banning iPhones (or cameraphones) only won't work so good.
I am using http://snappr.mobi on my blackberry to look up prices and reviews - and that thing doesn't even have a camera...
And hey, if the price is about the same, I rather buy at the store directly instead of waiting and paying for shipping!
So we end up with customers shopping purely on price and not on services or availability? I can imagine this will get used more at large chains than at local stores, but discounting the fact that companies might have higher overhead to have a physical store in your neighborhood or pay their employees a fair wage needs to enter the equation. How much a price difference makes it worth waiting to buy?
I wonder if WalMart would honor this type of price matching. They do it with ads and coupons...why not this?
Banning iPhones is doomed to fail. I'm betting iPhone owners are higher earners on average, with more disposable income. iPhones/Smartphones are proving wildly popular and are likely to become the default mobile device in the near future.
Add to that the obvious problems for the customer when they no longer have access to their phone - what if their child is involved in an accident while they're in the store? What if they witness a Rodney King style event while in the store?
Or what if they're well connected on Twitter and want to tell all their friends about a great deal?
Fail. Doom. Destined to be eaten by faster nimbler predators.
You have to watch those store closing sales. The Circuit City stores were actually bought out by outside liquidating companies that raised prices and then advertised their closing sale and slapped stickers on merchandise.
Same thing happened at Linens and Things.
http://tinyurl.com/6jbvrp
Anyone interested in learning more about QR code technology may be interested in www.qrme.co.uk. The site is focused on QR codes and has news, videos, forums and a social network. You'll also get your own free trackable QR code.
Even more than price matching, shoppers will be able to use these technologies in retail locations to find reviews, deals from other retailers, and related products.
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