The Promise Of Mobile BarCodes Apps.

Posted on 20. Nov, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci in Mobile

Traditional advertising is becoming increasingly ineffective. And so much we all know. But there is a new wave of mobile apps, which has the potential to accelerate its demise: Mobile BarCode Readers.

The first examples are two apps, now both available on the Iphone: RedLaser 2.2 and ShopSavvy. What they do, is allow users to scan a bar code (UPC code) and retrieve real-time data on the product scanned. The main features, common to the two apps, are:

-Price comparison through online shopping engine.

-Map of nearby stores that offer the same product, with relative pricing info.

-Access to users ‘reviews.

ShopSavvy was just launched on the Iphone, and it’s free. RedLaser has been around for a few weeks and it’s already the second top paid app, for only $1.99. What’s more RedLaser is also available to developers and users to create their own app.

redlaser

Apparently, what’s happening under our eyes is a shift towards a new age of consumerism, where traditional advertising gets interrupted at the very final node of the purchase impulse: in store. Reviews shared by like-minded communities and shopping engines information make the consumer aware if something is wrong, break the spell of that impulse to buy.

What’s left to retailers and brands?

Umair Haque has been advocating a new paradigm of innovation for the 21st century, dubbed the Awesomeness manifesto. The message is simple: only ethical innovation will survive and propagate itself.

What is awesomeness? Awesomeness happens when thick — real, meaningful — value is created by people who love what they do, added to insanely great stuff, and multiplied by communities who are delighted and inspired because they are authentically better off. That’s a better kind of innovation, built for 21st century economics.

So, it’s good to see that new tools are coming to light, which could empower consumers and make them active agents of this change.

On the flip side, though, these same apps could also start acting like big brothers that learn about our shopping habits and patterns, and feed this stream of data back to advertisers, who would be now able to influence us, in new “intelligent” ways.

Which of the two futures is most likely to happen? Probably, as always, something in the middle…

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