A new way for American consumers to shop using their mobile phones.
Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator
Retailers in the US are embracing new online technologies. Stores, such as Ralph Lauren, are now introducing a new method of shopping to consumers: mobile shopping through your cell phone. This new technology will enable consumers to shop on mobile sites (websites formatted to fit on mobile devices) with a click of the ‘capture’ button on a camera phone.
How does mobile shopping actually work? In order to partake in this new shopping process, your cell phone must have a camera, internet access and the software to read Quick Response (QR) codes. QR codes are similar to traditional barcodes you would find in a grocery store but contain more information. People scan QR codes placed in store windows, catalogs, advertisements, and business cards with their mobile phone, and will be directed to mobile sites to receive additional information about products, events and even other people.
What makes mobile shopping so easy is that the QR software allows consumers to access a mobile site without typing or searching for the correct link. Currently US phones do not come with the software preinstalled, but it is free and easily downloaded (charges from your cell phone carrier may apply). When downloading the QR software, the phone’s model will be detected and automatically identify the correct software to install. To scan a QR code, open the QR reader software on your phone and take a picture of the code. A link to the mobile site will appear on your phone. Simply click to access the site and begin your shopping spree. Mobile shopping is as secure and safe as shopping from your home computer.
Also participating in this phenomenon are Facebook, Google and Apple. Semacode is collaborating with Facebook to allow users to scan a Semacoded “social card” with mobile phones, which sends the link to their online profile. Google is developing an open-source code reader called ZXing (which still in testing), and third-party developer NeoMedia has already released a NeoReader for Apple’s iPhone 3G.
There are currently 800 million people shopping online in 2008, with the majority of the mobile shopping consumers in Asian countries. Experts predict that cell phone shopping will increase by 500% over the next five years, and they also predict that sales will reach $300 billion by 2013. Clothes, books and accessories are the top three items purchased online; experts predict this trend will be the same with mobile shopping. Mobile shopping is a great, simple and easy way for shopaholics to engage in their favorite past-time. With time and the help of new mobile technologies US consumers will embrace mobile shopping like their counterparts in Asia already have.
