Tag: shopping

In the coming year, I will have my eye on the evolution of the retail discount. The traditional coupon clip has been transformed by shopping apps and social media. As an admitted bargain hunter, I’m glad to see deal-seeking become posh again. With the growing popularity of online social networks, where consumers “like” and follow brands as readily as they do friends and pop stars (see Media Logic’s 2010 Retail Marketing Report), the buying experience has become truly interactive and is likely to grow even more so.

As a modern marketer, I have been aware of and following QR codes for a couple of years – I was interested when Esquire did an entire issue earlier this year featuring QR codes – one feature with 30 “must have” items for every man included QR codes that would take you to styling tips for that item and where to buy them. Interesting, but not particularly compelling to me – a woman who has given up on styling her husband. QR codes popped up occasionally on movie posters, in hipster magazines and in handful of other pubs. I read articles about their functionality and their failures and occasionally pondered for which of my clients QR codes might work. But that was as far as it went. Until pennant fever overwhelmed me.