Is that a Mobile Point of Sale input device in your pocket?
I’ve been intrigued lately (okay, more intrigued than usual) by the notion of how advances in the adoption by retailers of the mobile channel will eventually come into play in the physical world of bricks and mortar retailers.
There is, of course, the whole notion of simply promoting online shopping via internet-enabled mobile devices, but that’s so, I dunno…web 1.5.
There’s also the innovation we’re seeing from firms like Sears, which allows customers to use in-store kiosks (provided by Tyco Electronics). Which, don’t get me wrong, is a step in the right direction.
Perhaps closest to what I’m talking about are consumer-targeted MPOS (Mobile Point of Sale) devices like the Motorola Sparrow.
Which are great, but I’m thinking more about that mobile device in my pocket, which, for most mobile-enabled consumers in the US and Europe today, includes not only communication features, but a camera. Why not use this capability as an input device?
It seems that the technology is there. There are plenty of companies applying it to various industries, such as Mitek (financial services), Copper Range (construction), Nokia (which recently acquired Pixto, inventor of a generic image recognition app for mobile phones), and even freeware from ScanLife, which is available through Apple’s iTunes. And there are, of course, numerous PDA extension bar code scanners, some of which we’ve seen our retail clients evaluating, and most of which are cumbersome and expensive.
But what I’m thinking is, with all of these available technologies, who will be first to market with barcode scanning software that integrates with cellphone (and/or PDA) cameras, allowing customers to interact directly with the retailer? This experience could entail, at a most basic level, pointing your camera phone at a product’s barcode, sending an MMS to a number supplied by the retailer, and getting back information like detailed product specs/information or inventory for a certain size/variation. Go beyond the basic and allow simple online (or even SMS based) ordering and payment—or integrate it all into a package that figures out what’s going on when the software recognizes a barcode, and automatically takes the user to a webpage with product and purchase info. Such a scheme could really augment the “buy from any store with no shipping costs” (of which I’m a big fan) policy of retailers like Nordstrom.
I think the ultimate value (for consumers and smart webcos, anyway) of this technology would come from shopping aggregators (like say google product search, né froogle) to provide a mechanism to allow shoppers to scan a product barcode in a bricks and mortar store, send it to the aggregator, and receive back the best deals on that product. This of course assumes that the aggregator doesn’t mind the risk of alienating the physical retailer…but that makes me think maybe the future of bricks and mortar doesn’t so much lie in our traditional notion of a retailer-branded physical shopping experience, but perhaps in the concept of a product-brand-centric—or online aggregator centric—storefront where shoppers go to touch, feel, and/or try on stuff they want to buy, and then find the best deals online using the internet and the input device in their pocket.
And of course there’s room for less radical approaches, wherein, for example:
- a traditional retailer sets up such a system—perhaps as a premium service with a fee—and offers to match the prices found online, or to provide instant pick up at the physical store the customer’s shopping in, for a premium over the cheapest online price (solving the inventory-related issues associated with these approaches is left as an exercise for the retailer:^)
- a mall owner or other third party sets up such a system, inviting a limited set of retailers to opt-in, and providing a suite of tools (perhaps for a fee) to deal with the price-competition and inventory issues that may arise (e.g. query-specific promotions and/or substitute/cross-sell/up-sell options)
As always, I’m interested in your feedback on these ideas.
Comments
I had my friend download the ScanLife application to his iPhone so I could give it a test drive.
For starters, the application can only read and decipher proprietary EZcodes. Unfortunately the ScanLife application offers no support for 1D UPC/EAN barcodes, or Data Matrix, Aztec, or QR codes. This is the major downfall of the application, since it only supports one proprietary 2D symbology. As a result, ScanLife is not a true universal code reader.
For those wanting a much more intuitive mobile code reading experience, I highly recommend the NeoReader application from NeoMedia Technologies. The NeoReader is able to read and decipher all common non-proprietary 2D codes (Data Matrix, QR, Aztec) as well as URL embedded 2D codes and all 1D UPC/EAN/Code 128 open source codes. The NeoReader supports direct and indirect code linking, which guarantees maximum interoperability with already existing platforms like 2D Data Matrix Semacodes, and Japanese QR links. This allows the user to click on a variety of barcodes with a single application installed on their mobile device.
Download the NeoReader and instantly transform your iPhone into a universal code reader.
Posted by: streetstylz | August 25, 2008 08:38 PM
I am not quite sure that I have a mobile point of sale in my pocket but I have a bargain hunting tool for sure.
More and more people are using their mobile phone to check prices online while browsing in-store. It may cause some issues to traditional retailers who do not have price consistency across channels.
Searching through EAN, UPC, Manufacturer number or product images (pictures taken from a mobile phone) will be must-haves for e-commerce websites or search engines very soon.
Posted by: Guillaume Vingtier | August 26, 2008 12:47 PM
I believe the winner of the google android competition developed an application for scanning and deciphering barcodes. Google obviously seem to think there is potential there.
Posted by: Jonathan Nobbs | August 26, 2008 02:30 PM
Great entry. Nice hand off on the inventory :-). I did inventory mngt for a system I designed and it is brutal.
Posted by: Tim J | August 26, 2008 02:35 PM
This is an interesting tool, which, as your last paragraph implies, could probably support a whole new industry in support services, additional applications, competitive devices, etc. Very interesting to see where this goes.
Posted by: Editor | August 26, 2008 07:53 PM
I wish it were a Mobile Point of Sale input device in my pocket...
I currently spend most of my time in Borders and Barnes & Noble looking up book prices on Amazon via my cell phone. Be nice if I could just scan the barcodes of books instead. Be even better if I could get a comparable price in the store and walk out with the book.
Posted by: John Noltensmeyer | August 29, 2008 03:19 AM
It would be interesting when mobile devices will be used to capture user's buying preferences (including preferred retailers) , provide suggestions based on user needs & location and make it easy to do transactions. User preference will be really useful for retailers as they can target marketing efforts to individual customer based on their needs. It will be very interesting to follow the development
Posted by: Tanay Sengar | August 29, 2008 09:30 PM
Some of the features offered by Google Android winner - "Users can scan the barcode of any product using their phone’s built-in camera. Once scanned, it will search for all the best prices on the internet and through the inventories of nearby, local stores. After scanning a product, users can also read online reviews or even create price alerts to help monitor price drops. Also, organize the products you've scanned into wish lists that can be shared with your friends on your social networking profile page." More details and screenshots are @ http://code.google.com/android/adc_gallery/app.html?id=17
Posted by: Rockey Nebhwani | September 2, 2008 06:58 AM
Rockey,
I wonder if Google will pay Neomedia Technologies the $275,000, all of the other award money they so handed out for other barcode applications, and coverage for the IP they are traversing on. It will be interesting!
Posted by: Swampthing | September 10, 2008 10:43 PM
Just found out about Tokyo-based tonchidot Corporation's Sekai Camera app for the iPhone. It's about the coolest thing since...Web 1.0, and a big enabling step in the direction of what i was talking about in my post. Check out the video demo on youtube: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=KgTwSXK_5dg. You basically walk around pointing your iphone's camera at your surroundings, and it tags them--in real time--and lets you drill down into the tags. Very Cool!
Posted by: Vince Cavasin | September 11, 2008 04:30 AM
Amazingly fresh line of thought.
Google (G1s)/iPhones gathers the data of the number of people looking for a particular product, build a large DB out of it and become the Retail Business Intelligence Giants/ Market Research Firms also! :)
How does that sound as a new venture for Brin/Page/Jobs???
Posted by: Ashutosh | September 23, 2008 06:27 AM
The new G1 phone has a barcode scanner application available for download which can read UPC codes and deliver instant price comparisons.
Posted by: RYAN THOMAS HEWITT | September 23, 2008 06:04 PM
On similar lines, Amazon launched its new iPhone App 'Amazon Remembers' (http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ratcliffe/?p=377). Users of this app can take pictures of the products and send it to Amazon. Users get notified when Amazon finds a match for the product. Interestingly, Amazon is making use of MTurk for image matching (http://scottru.com/2008/12/04/amazons-iphone-mobile-app-and-privacy/).
Posted by: Rockey | December 6, 2008 12:18 PM