Mobile Commerce, a creative and convenient way to shop online

My very dear friend Paige Bluhdorn from eatdrinksleep.com sent me an interesting email today.  It was about Ralph Lauren's recent launch of their mobile shop using QR codes.  But mobile commerce itself is not new, it has been around for a long while, I remember discovering it myself about 3 years ago while waiting for a meeting playing with a new cellphone, I thought I would check out how Amazon.com would look like on a mobile browser and ended up buying a USB mouse just to see if it actually worked, and it did.

I never again purchased anything else from my mobile since I am always around a computer either at home or the office and I just simply find it more convenient using a standard size keyboard and mouse to get what I want, however, with QR codes now in the equation I think Ralph Lauren nailed it and the future of mobile commerce from those who adapt its technology looks brighter than ever.

QR codes are simply a two dimensional bar code.  Just about the same bar code you see stamped on any product.  Now picture yourself (and I thank Paige for this example) on a vacation trip to New York (or whatever suits you) and going through dozens of stores buying things you enjoy, until you recall you actually need to fit all these stuff into your suitcase and you are only able to have two of them, what do you do? urgh, I know I've been in that situation myself, and I either save some stuff for a second trip or ship some stuff upfront and end up paying more.  Now think about an alternate idea, what if those things you want, you just take a picture or scan the QR code, and through it, you automatically purchase and get the items shipped to your home and billed to your credit card with a simple click.  You never even had to open your wallet.

But why leave it there? it sounds so exciting already, how about you don't even need to leave home, since you can pickup the code from a magazine, or any piece of paper for that matter.  So how about you are sitting down on a restaurant waiting to be served and there is a placemat promoting a souvenir from the restaurant itself if it is a famous place or just about any product at all... you just take out your phone, you take a picture and you can get it on your mailbox.  And that is just another simple application, with time and as marketing gets stronger on it, there would become more creative ways to advertise and sell products or services through this technology.

So, how about it, think you would order through the phone more than through your computer? I'm not sure, it just may, it may not.  There is technology involved, there is adaptation and learning period, just like it happened when going from offline shopping to online shopping, people will wonder if it is safe, people would be scared to use "one click purchase" considering phones can easily be stolen, but I do firmly believe, we will eventually get there.

I do still have some concerns:

• What's going to happen when more companies adapt this technology, are they going to fight over to get their software up on your phone? or would there be a collaboration among the big industry leaders to have a standarized software that identifies a piece of the code and redirects to a specific website?
• What are phone carriers going to do about it, do you think they will settle for the phone net usage fee or would they want to play ball with the shops? after all, it is their network people are buying through.
• What about affiliate programs, what role will they play? Stores or printed media who feature products with the code will for sure want a profit margin, how are they going to get it?

It is an early stage still, so not all questions are answered and not all answers are yet convincing, but hopefully, eventually they will.  And when that happens, as customers we will have even more choices to transact and play our role in society, we'll get to make them all richer faster =), sorry I had to sneak that comment in.

Jose R. Lopez

Some references regarding this:

Ralph Lauren's Mobile Site Information
Wikipedia.com Information on QR Code

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Heather
Posts: 1

Re: Ralph Lauren showcases their new mobile store featuring QR codes for quick buying
Reply #1 on : Thu October 23, 2008, 23:54:51

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I saw these on signs and on vending machines when I was in Tokyo, Japan. Very interesting!