Making the Digital/Analog Merge Work For Retail
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is an excerpt from a current article from Insight-Driven Retailing Blog.
I recently downloaded an iPhone app called Pounce that furthers the concept of Commerce Anywhere. Since weekly circulars are still an important part of reaching consumers, they continue to be a cornerstone in many retailers' marketing plans.
Pounce augments the newspaper experience by allowing users to point their mobile phone's camera at an item in the circular and have it added to a basket. The basket can then be passed to the retailer's e-commerce site for normal checkout, then the item is shipped. If you've per-registered your payment information with Pounce, you can checkout immediately on the mobile phone.
In a press release, Pounce said it simplifies the often lengthy and complex mobile shopping experience with a one-touch scan and purchase procedure. By securely storing billing and shipping information, Pounce also promises to eliminate the need to re-enter those details for every purchase, and also the possibility that the sale won't go through
"Print media is a great shopping tool for consumers, but it comes with a time-delay between the initial intent and the actual transaction," said Avital Yachin, founder and CEO of Pounce. "Pounce removes that interruption, empowering consumers with the option to purchase a product right then and there, instead of going online or driving to a store."
According to the statement, only Staples, Ace Hardware, Toys "R" Us, Babies "R" Us and Target are currently supported. For retailers, Pounce generates a sales report extracting details and success rates compiled through Pounce transactions, providing retailers with another way to gauge print ad performance.
After downloading the app, I went to the Staples.com and tried scanning a random item. The app didn't recognize any items I selected from the website, but that's not what it's supposed to do. So I clicked over to the print ads where my local newspaper inserts are available online. The app was great at quickly recognizing those items, taking just a second or two. In fact, as I moved my phone across the page it was grabbing multiple items and putting them all in my cart. Obviously the app is "trained" to recognize only the items in the circular, which makes perfect sense.
This is another great example of merging the analog and digital worlds, letting each do what it does best.