Ringing Up the Best Bargain
It turns out those cameras built into almost every new mobile phone actually are good for something: They can recognize bar codes and use that information to connect to websites. Umm, so what does that mean for you, the supershopper?
Well, whether it's shelves of flat-panel TV s or cans of soup, a click of the phone could instantly reveal where to get the best price and other helpful information about the products, freeing you from the need to search numerous sites or run around town. "Your cellphone is your mouse, and you surf the real world," says Joe Jensen, marketing director of NeoMedia Technologies, one of the companies exploring the potential of using cellphones for shopping with the software it offers at www.paperclick.com . The software currently in development is for use with 165 different models, including almost all of Nokia's and Motorola's makes.
Competition is already forming to deliver the best mobile phone shopping technology: Almost 5,000 early adopters have visited www.scanbuy.com to download a test version of that company's Scan Zoom technology, which lets them link bar codes on products to such sites as Amazon and Pricegrabber. "People want to see a product and touch it in a store, and then comparison-shop online," says CEO Olivier Attia. "Now you're getting all of the information at once."
In a few months, Scanbuy will release software that even offers driving directions to other stores where the same product is cheaper, Attia says. Phil Lempert, a retail technology expert, says bargain hunters are likely to embrace these new mobile technologies: "The future of shopping on the Web is going to be that hand-held device."
Until cellphone shopping catches on, there are plenty of other innovations changing the experience of shopping on the Web and proving there are more options online than Amazon and eBay. Hillary Mendelsohn, author of thepurplebook, a directory for online shopping, says the old online philosophy--toss products on the Web and hope people buy them--is making way for better customer service and interactive technologies that help you find exactly what you want. She's a fan of www.net-a-porter.com, a high-end fashion site that sells clothes by designers such as Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs. The site shows clothes on and off models and segments products by size. "Sites like this do a good job of re-creating browsing," she says. "It's the closest you can get to picking up an item and looking at it." Mendelsohn also points to sites like www.interfaceflor.com, which sells modular carpet squares with the help of a configurator that lets customers conjure up a mosaic for their floors from an array of colors and styles.
Another pioneer in online shopping, www.landsend.com , has enlisted 4,000 shoppers to help develop its site. The results include a system that allows them to type in their body measurements to see how articles of clothing will fit a figure who looks like them called "My Virtual Model" and "Specialty Shoppers" you can call to get advice on issues like outfit coordination. There also is an exclusive service dubbed "Swim Finder" that lets women pick their bathing suit based on "anxiety zone" or style.
With help like that, you might never have to face the mall parking lot again. Unless you want to play with your cellphone.
HOT SITE: www.overstock.com
Holiday bargain shoppers would do well to visit this site, which offers clearance deals on items including digital cameras, furniture, and designer clothing.
This story appears in the December 5, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.