It all started in Seoul, South Korea, in July 2011. Tesco (branded Home Plus in South Korea) sought a way to increase its market share without increasing the number of stores. This led to the idea of virtual stores.

Products images were displayed in a subway station in Seoul, with QR codes allowing commuters to scan and add the items to a virtual shopping basket, checkout and pay. Products were then delivered when they got home.

The concept won numerous marketing awards and drew a lot of attention within the retailer and marketing communities. So much so that Home Plus brought it into a reality on August 25^th, for a period of three months, in the arrivals hall of the Seonreung subway station, in Seoul.

In the same week, Ocado, the UK online grocery retailer launched its own ‘virtual shop window’ for Apple iPhone users at London’s One New Change shopping centre.

As an online retailer, about 15 per cent of Ocado transactions were taking place on a mobile at the time. Becoming the leading mobile retailer therefore seems the logical next step, which Ocado doesn’t hide: Jason Gissing, Ocado’s co-founder, said: “We’ll be looking at options around continuing this ‘virtual window shopping’ approach.”

Soon, other retailers joined the fray, and over the last couple of months not a week has gone by without a retailer or a brand announcing its own virtual shop:

Oct 7: HSN HD, a US home shopping Television channel, used ’scan & shop’ QR Codes during its Innovation Weekend to test whether viewers would purchase items with their mobile phones.

Oct 31: Procter & Gamble, one of the most innovative consumer goods manufacturer, set up virtual stores in four of the busiest subway stations in Prague, where busy consumers on their way to and from work could purchase essentials via their mobile phones.

Nov 15: HMV (a UK retailer focused on music & movies) and Twentieth Century Fox, used QR codes printed on ads on the bus shelters, leading directly to a mobile app to purchase the DVDs advertised.

Nov 28: John Lewis, a UK retailer, trialled QR codes with the launch of a virtual shop in Brighton (UK).

Dec 1: eBay opened its ‘QR emporium’ on one of London’s high street.

Dec 13 Argos, another UK retailer, opened its virtual shop in Waterloo and Paddington tube stations.

Lasting trend or just a fad?

Critics were quick to dismiss these initiatives as a stunt to increase awareness. So far, no numbers have been released; however these initiatives make sense. They are the answer to a lasting trend that will have profound consequences for our digital lives; and there is a wealth of statistics and research that corroborates this observation. To name but a few:

• By 2015, there will be more m-commerce than e-commerce (Gartner, 2011).
• Today, in the US 79% of smartphone owners use their smartphone to help with the shopping and 70% use their smartphone while in the store (Ipsos OTX 2011).
• 7 of 10 Consumers understand QR codes (MGH, 2011).

Love it or hate it, retail is going mobile. And it’s happening now.

We released some exciting new ScanLife features when scanning UPC (1D) barcodes which are making everyone very happy – traffic was up 3x this weekend!  All of this is available to any Android, iPhone or BlackBerry with an auto-focus camera.

Before, we gave you options like online prices, user reviews, and product specs from most products.  Now, you can scan practically anything to get access to an even wider variety of content from digital coupons to local prices to nutritional information.

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Today, ScanLife announced that is has released a tool to make it really simple to launch the ScanLife universal barcode scanner from any 3rd party app.  This is a free tool that will first be available to the Android OS, and other leading operating systems will be offered soon.  [Update]: iPhone OS now supported.  Please go to developer.scanlife.com for details. We have received plenty of requests for this tool from marketers and publishers that are already planning to place 2D codes on material like magazines or packaging.  This gives your app users a way to scan those codes right from your own app.

How does it work?

1. A developer integrates the sdk into an app (go to developer.scanlife.com)
2. The user clicks on an icon or button to launch scanner
3. Generic ScanLife app is launched (or it is downloaded)
4. Codes are scanned as usual

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ScanLife was featured in an article about mobile commerce in this Saturday’s New York Times.  In fact, the article was on the cover of the A section, and lead with Norma Kamali’s use of ScanLife.  We had reported before that the famed designer is using codes throughout her store to link shoppers to information, and give them a chance to win merchandise.  Soon, even window shoppers can scan the code to purchase items in the store and ship it home – even if the store is closed!

Don’t we all need ways to sell and buy things faster and easier?  Of course we do and what if we could do it by scanning a 2D code from a poster on the bus or an ad in the newspaper.

Amazon released a new service this week which allows virtually anyone with a mobile formatted website to add m-commerce using Amazon’s network of existing users.   (more…)