Semacode Technology In New Ad Campaigns Facilitate Impulse Shopping

Point, snap, and buy! That’s the future of impulse shopping. H&M is running a new ad campaign that features ‘Semacodes’ on the billboard posters and magazine spreads of their fashion wear. When consumers see something they like, they can point their cellphone camera at the code, take a picture of it, and send it instantly to H&M where the item is charged to their (pre-existing) H&M account and shipped along.

Semacode is a software company based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It is also this company’s trade name for machine-readable symbols which encode internet Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). It is primarily aimed at being used with cellular phones which have built-in cameras. Using Semacode software, a URL can be converted into a type of barcode resembling a crossword puzzle, which is called a “tag”. Tags can be quickly captured with a mobile phone’s camera and decoded to obtain a Web site address. This address can then be accessed via the phone’s web browser. (Wikipedia)

I suspect that the initiative is nothing more than a marketing stunt to achieve some viral exposure. I doubt that H&M expects to achieve any serious sales through this purchasing channel. From my point of view, the shopping experience provided by this interface is challenged by the following:

1. The consumer must have a pre-existing account with H&M to make the purchase, or sign up for one through the mobile website of H&M when their cellphone connects to purchase the item. The ‘impulse’ buy angle is derailed as the consumer goes through the account sign-up process, thumbing away tedious data (address, name, credit card, etc.).

2. The experience faces the same challenge as online shopping: how many women actually buy expensive fashion wear without trying it on first?

But, the stint is achieving it’s desired marketing effect of gaining some media exposure for H&M. I had never heard of the store before this, and I am currently browsing their website. The nearest Canadian location to Halifax is in Montreal.

(Spotted on Gizmodiva.)