Tag: quick response codes

QR codes are central to Bond No. 9 mobile commerce

| April 9, 2013

QR Codes Bond No. 9 FragranceThe new “digital fragrance” is being sold exclusively through barcode scans.

The marketers of the new Bond No. 9 fragrance have taken a mobile commerce tack to draw attention to itself in a marketplace that is flooded with products, by using QR codes in a unique way.

The perfume is being launched at the end of June and will be sold only online, through a page accessed by barcode.

The scent is being launched for $250 per bottle and has announced that it will not be making its fragrance available to brick and mortar retailers for the launch. Its sales will occur online through a website that can be accessed by way of scanned QR codes. This is a direct nod to the popularity of smartphones and tablets and the growing number of people who are using mobile commerce.

The QR codes will be available in a number of different locations for consumers to scan.

The question is whether or not consumers will actually be on board with the idea of using QR codes to purchase a product that they have not been able to try out for themselves. As a highly personal product, many consumers prefer to try fragrances before they buy and will typically only shop online when they have already used a product and know that they like it.

That said, Laurice Rahme, the owner and founder of the Bond No.9 brand, feels that there is enough motivation to generate a tremendous success. Rahme said that “The fragrance business is always doing the same thing and the same thing and the same thing. We wanted to really capture what is going on in the world. Everybody is online. Everybody is mobile. So we have to do a fragrance for that world. It’s a different world.”

Rahme explained that what she loves about the QR codes on the packaging is that the industry is always discussing the challenges of training and retraining sales people, but this technique allows the bottle to communicate directly with the consumer. She believes that this takes the product beyond department store distribution.

The QR codes definitely generate a unique mobile commerce fragrance experience, but it has yet to be seen whether this “universal” unisex fragrance will take off at that price and over this channel.

QR codes on pajamas unveiled by man from Idaho Falls

| April 3, 2013

qr codes pajamasEach set has nearly fifty different barcodes that can be scanned using smartphones and tablets.

A realtor from Idaho Falls, Idaho, has used QR codes in order to develop what he has nicknamed “Smart PJs”, which allow kids to be able to enjoy bedtime a little bit more through the use of a smartphone and their jammies.

The man behind the development of this new use for the barcodes is named Juan Murdoch.

Murdoch explained his creation by saying that “It’s a new spin on pajamas. Pajamas have been around for thousands of years and this is something new.” As a realtor, not an inventor, creating uses for QR codes is far from his primary occupation. However, he explained that the idea of pajamas that could tell a child a bedtime story, or sing a lullaby for a little boy or girl simply made its way into his head, one day, and he just went with it.

The QR codes on the pajamas provide a number of different experiences, not just a single song or story.

Murdoch explained that he’s not certain whether or not it was the “dad in me” that helped him to come up with the creative use for the QR codes. He explained that “I’ve got six kids. My wife and I have 6 kids and so I know how important a bedtime story is.”

The pajamas are designed with colorful dots all over them. Though they may simply look like bright and fun sleepwear, the dots are actually QR codes that can be scanned, for free, using the Smart PJs application, on an Android or iOS smartphone. Each set of pajamas has nearly 50 different dots, each with its own unique story or song.

Once the QR codes have been scanned, the tablet or smartphone reads a book, sings a lullaby, or even tells the child a number of interesting facts about various animals. Depending on the code that is scanned, the result is different.

Murdoch has explained that he is “proud” of his invention. He explained that it brought out the sense of pride that he feels in being able to “bring that technology and something unique to Idaho” and that he feels that it is “kind of cool”.