Author: Julie Campbell

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.

NFC technology introduced in new McDonald’s trial

| April 7, 2013

McDonald's NFC Technology CanadaThe debit and mobile payments pilot program has now begun at a Canadian location.

McDonald’s is making mobile commerce news headlines with its brand new NFC technology based transaction system, which is being introduced on a trial basis at a Canadian restaurant location.

This would allow customers of the fast food giant to be able to pay for their meals using smartphones.

The NFC technology system is being provided by Interact Flash, a contactless solution from the Interac Association. It allows people to use their enabled debit cards and smartphones to tap-to-pay for their purchases. This functionality is currently limited only to certain specific cards and devices.

Also part of this NFC technology payments partnership is RBC Royal Bank, through their mobile app.

RBC has integrated the NFC technology into their application which can be downloaded and used through BlackBerry smartphones that are enabled with a near field communication chip. Together, RBC and Interac have made it possible for McDonald’s to offer these mobile payments to its customers.

According to Interac, this is the first time in Canada – as well as the only one currently operating – that contactless debit and mobile payments are accepted through NFC technology. The president and CEO of Acxsys Corporation and the Interac Association, Mark O’Connell, said that “This achievement in mobile debit innovation helps solidify our role in the mobile payments space in Canada.”

He also added that it will soon be possible for people in Canada to be able to use their smartphones to “pay with Interac Flash quickly, conveniently and securely” when they are making their typical purchases in stores and restaurants. He explained that this will bring additional value for consumers, but also for partner financial institutions and for the merchants, themselves.

The Interac Association debit card and payments services currently offers funds access to people in Canada at approximately 60,000 different cash points, as well as 766,000 point of sale terminals country wide. They have already led the way in the country for online debit payments and intend to use NFC technology to help to ensure a position as a leader in mobile payments, as well.