Imagine going to a store and being able to use your smartphone to scan an item, only to have that item come up on your phone with deals from other stores around you, so you can save money and make purchases faster and easier? Microsoft is working on such technology as you read this.
“Geolocation applications can be very powerful, but there is nothing more ‘local’ than someone physically standing outside your shop. 2D barcodes and NFC will play a big role here. The advancement of mobile information transferred to consumers walking by your shop is going to give a whole new meaning to window shopping,” Microsoft stated in an official blog post.
The whole idea behind this technology is having the ability to purchase items while window shopping. Basically, you would be able to save and capture items you want to purchase or research for later. Once you do that, you will automatically get price comparisons from other local stores. If you find a better deal, you leave the store you are at. Pretty neat.
All smart stores know that in order to get the most sales, you need the customer to enter the store. Having NFC technology and using 2D barcodes will make sales easy and allow shoppers to leave the store with more items purchased.
The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is one week away and we can only imagine what Microsoft has in store for us regarding this kind of technology.
Further reading: Microsoft
