Their goal is nothing less than reshaping
the retail industry. And with the growing popularity of smart phones and other
mobile computing devices, tech-savvy retailers may wind up doing just that.
Whereas previous generations thought of
shopping as requiring a trip to the local mall, buyers in recent years have
become increasingly comfortable making their purchases online: letting their
“fingers do the walking” via keystrokes on a computer. But now, e-commerce
innovators – such as the online drugstore Well.ca – are taking that idea one
step further.
By strategically locating so called pop-up
stores in key commuter hubs, retailers are finding new ways to bring goods to
shoppers. Using their smart phones, busy commuters simply scan the quick
response (QR) codes (those black-and-white square patterns you’re seeing
everywhere these days) on images of products, such as brand-name diapers or
detergent, to place their orders. Purchases are delivered to their homes as
early as the following day.
Shopping by smart phone while on the go
may be a relatively new notion for many, but the appeal of such a system is
obvious. With the ease of pressing a button on their pocket-sized device,
time-pressed commuters can cross off items on their to-do lists that otherwise
would have required a far more time-consuming trip to the local store.
And with PC World reporting earlier this year that
smart phones “are already more popular than PCs,” such e-commerce innovations
are sure to be around for a long time.
