Category: NFC Technology

The largest American in-mall digital network has now added both the barcodes and the contactless tech.

Adspace Digital Mall Network has just announced that it is installing both QR codes and NFC technology into 140 malls across the United States, within their network, in order to improve the shopping experience.

This new initiative will use the mTAG platform from Blue Bite on the mall Smart Screen.

The new feature will allow clients to view advertising with QR codes that they can scan with their smartphones, or they can tap the screen to activate the NFC technology. The mTAG placard that is located on the side of the Smart Screen units provide a considerably higher level of interactivity for shoppers.

The QR codes and NFC tags will become available to advertisers in the malls as of April 15, 2013.

As of yet, it is has not been announced whether there are plans to expand this QR codes program to the rest of the 206 total malls in the network if it proves to be successful. It is also not yet known whether the company intends to use data collected from the scans, such as the number of successful scans and which campaigns prove to be the most successful in terms of the activity that they generate. It has also not yet been announced whether the use of the barcodes will be compared with that of the NFC technology.

The QR codes and NFC tags are designed to facilitate a number of different types of interactions between brands and consumers. The mTAG experience is meant to be a rich one that offers content such as app, ebook, mp3 and movie trailer downloads, as well as web based games and applications, social media integration, coupons and other promotions, maps, and more.

With the scan of the QR codes or the use of the other mobile features on the Smart Screens, this information can be downloaded or viewed directly on the user’s own device. The barcodes were included because while NFC technology is considered to be the ideal choice for this interactive mall feature, there are still only a small percentage of device owners whose smartphones are enabled with those chips.

Income will multiply due to the influence of mobile payments and mcommerce through massive partnerships.

Both Visa and MasterCard have come out with their latest mobile payments strategies, based on NFC technology and other methods that will help consumers to more comfortably and conveniently use their smartphones to pay for their purchases.

These new methods and channels will soon become central to a massive revenue growth for the companies.

All of the largest players in this arena are standing behind NFC technology as a central element of the success of their mobile commerce and payments efforts. This has been further solidified through a large number of partnerships that are being made with these companies, as well as wireless service providers, mobile security companies, and device makers.

It is likely that these deals will allow NFC technology to revolutionize mcommerce.

Though mobile commerce is still quite new, it is already expected that it is ready to be turned on its head once more as NFC technology becomes more commonly implemented into devices and more frequently used by consumers.

Investors are also starting to see the value of these deals that are centered around the successful implementation of NFC technology. From that standpoint, the use of near field communication could be a significant game changer that can result in tremendous revenue increases for credit card companies. Some of the partnerships that have taken place recently include Visa’s deal with Samsung and when MasterCard teamed up with VeriFone Systems.

The NFC technology based mobile payments services will allow devices to be used as a type of mobile wallet. In this sense, consumers can step up to the checkout counter of participating merchants and simply tap their smartphones against a reader device in order to complete a payment transaction. These services can also be applied to coupon redemption and loyalty program points collections, among others.

The goal of the NFC technology wallets is to make shopping far more convenient, so that everything from the points cards to the discount coupons and the payment methods themselves can all be contained in one secure location that many consumers already have.