New uses for mobile phones as technology advancements, spurred on by Apple’s iPhone, open up a host of new shopping opportunities are available for shoppers in Europe this Christmas. A host of new services that can deliver discount vouchers to phones, compare prices of vendors in a vicinity or direct shoppers to online stores are becoming easy to find and use, and they hold attractions for marketers as well as consumers.
Amazon has a new addition to its mobile store that lets iPhone users send it a picture of any object, to which it responds with a link to the closest match it has for sale.
Systems such as near-field communications, in which phones can be waved at readers to carry out transactions, or 2D barcodes which can be used, for example, as boarding passes, require special software and readers. 2D barcode technology is already widespread in some markets, notably Japan. Consumers can be tempted to snap a 2D barcode image from a poster, for example, to receive messages or vouchers from the advertiser – a useful direct marketing tool.
Market leader NeoMedia has recently inked deals with mobile operator Telefonica in Latin America and with phone maker Sony Ericsson to use its technology and pre-install it in phones.
Google also recently launched a service whereby businesses can put a 2D barcode up in their window, shoppers can scan it with any camera and application enabled phone, then read reviews and even get mobile coupons on the spot.
Mobile coupon usage alone is likely to triple over the next five years to reach over 300 million users by 2014, led by the United States and Western Europe, according to a report this month by high-tech consultancy Juniper Research.
Sending vouchers to mobile phones is no longer dependent on special, expensive phones or point-of-sale equipment in stores.
British women’s fashion chain Oasis this month launched a gift-voucher service that lets consumers send gift vouchers to one another by SMS, through a partnership with ambitious start-up Eagle Eye Solutions. Eagle Eye’s technology allows stores to redeem vouchers purchased online through their existing chip-and-PIN machines, which are widely used for secure payments in Europe.
The company already has partnerships with electronic goods chain Comet, Harveys and Corney & Barrow wine bars, in which customers can buy each other instant drinks vouchers through a scheme called buymeabeer.com.
The company estimates the total UK voucher market to be worth about $2.2 billion, and the far more advanced US market around $70 billion.