38
RTINNOVATIONS
AUGMENTED REALITY SQUARE CHANGES
PRODUCT FINDER HITS THE SHAPE OF
THE STREETS
RETAIL PAYMENTS?
THUNDRE’s augmented reality product fi nder has just been
Square, a new payments device due to be launched in 2010,
released to help users fi nd products inside shops nearby.
is causing quite a stir, according to Christine Bardwell, Ovum
Augmented reality product fi nders overlay product
retail technology analyst.
information (prices, descriptions, and images) on top of the
“Many reports claim the technology will revolutionise the
view of the real world. Each product is represented by a
way we make payments,” said Bardwell. “Co-founded by the
marker, giving users a sense of how near a particular product is
creator of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, the concept of Square is that it
located, as well as its general direction.
allows anybody to be a merchant.
“This ability to fi nd out what a store is selling without having
“Square box is a magnetic card reader, which plugs into
to actually set foot inside the store is brilliant,” said Paula
the headset or microphone socket of the iPhone or iPod
Abrahamson, THUNDRE chief executive, “especially if you
touch. On swiping a credit card through the reader, the data
want to avoid going in and out of every single shop in town to
is converted into an audio signal, which can be read by the
fi nd the item you’re looking for! So using an augmented reality
Square software application installed on the iPhone. Buyers
product fi nder is defi nitely the way to short-cut your shopping.”
sign the mobile phone screen with their fi nger, the payment is
The product fi nder can be accessed on any iPhone 3GS or
processed, and then, given that the buyer has entered personal
Android phone and viewed using Layar, a free-to-download
details and an email address, they receive an SMS and an email
augmented reality browser. And it is ready for “bricks-and-
with confi rmation of payment and receipt.”
mortar” retailers worldwide to enter their data on a pay-per-
To read Bardwell’s complete analysis of the potential
performance basis, with current coverage in the UK.
impact in the e-commerce payments market as well as its
And THUNDRE’s hyperlocal product fi nder technology and
wider potential retail and security implications, visit
data is available to publishers with a revenue-share under their
www.retailtechnology.co.uk/special-reports.
own brand.
www.ovum.com
www.thundre.com
SUMMIT AND COMET WIN INNOVATION AWARD
Summit, the strategic online marketing the stock sitting in Comet’s warehouses PPC objectives were to increase reach and
and e-commerce agency for retailers and delivering truly innovative integration with a sales volumes while maintaining margin.
Comet, the electrical retailer, recently won traditional retailer”. Neil Collins, online marketing manager
Econsultancy’s 2009 Innovation in Paid Summit said Portfolio Manager is the only at Comet Group said: “Portfolio Manager’s
Search/Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Award. technology available to UK retailers that use of product feeds to power search
The Econsultancy judging panel praised lets them synchronise their warehouse with campaigns has transformed our approach
Summit’s search technology (called their PPC campaigns on all major search to PPC and delivered a step change in
Portfolio Manager) saying it “used the engines, in real time. The Comet results were results within just 48 hours of going live.”
power of the long tail of search to expose particularly signifi cant as the retailer’s key www.summit.co.uk
RETAIL TECHNOLOGY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010
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