This Holiday Season, Santa Turns to Barcodes Read by Mobile Phones to Pick the Perfect Gift

NEW YORK, Nov. 29, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Choosing the perfect gift for loved ones this Holiday season is hard enough.  People are picky.  Store shelves are crammed with indiscernible products. And the crowds don't make things easier. Consumers need an edge to help them make the right decisions, and the common barcode -- read by smartphones and feature phones loaded with ScanLife app -- provides just the trick. UPC codes are found on virtually every product sold in a store. Each one links to a wide variety of information that gives consumers what they need to make smart decisions.

If Santa himself could choose a new technology to help him pick the right gift for who's been naughty and who's been nice, it would be UPC codes that can be easily read by using apps on smartphones, such as Android, BlackBerry and iPhone as well as a large number of Java and BREW phones. Barcode scanning via mobile devices has grown tenfold in 2010. Thanksgiving Day saw twice the average number of daily scans by consumers. During the Black Friday shopping extravaganza, barcode scans shot up by 20 times the daily average when compared.  And, overall for the weekend shopping it was three times more than a normal weekend making it more than 30 times last year's ScanLife traffic.

"As consumers hit the shopping isles for Black Friday, and follow up with online purchases on Cyber Monday, mobile barcodes play a pivotal role in helping savvy shoppers compare prices and choose the best gifts," said Mike Wehrs, CEO and President of Scanbuy, the mobile leader in 1D and 2D barcodes. "Barcodes offer the capability to extend the consumer-purchasing decision far beyond the small product placard on the store shelf."

There are many ways UPC codes can give shoppers a distinct advantage this holiday shopping season:

• Shoppers find a popular item at their local store, but notice the price is too high. By scanning a barcode at the store, they will be sent a list of online retailers that are selling the same product at a lower price. They can use this information as leverage in the store to price match. It's great for getting the hot, new Kinetic for Xbox360 without breaking the bank.
• Sometimes shoppers want the "hot product," the one that is nearly impossible to find. Scanning a barcode will send the shopper a list of retailers selling that product with inventory in the area. This feature is ideal for those lastminute shoppers who don't want to use the same excuse as last year.
• Books and DVDs are always popular gifts, but what are people saying about the latest releases? Simply scan a barcode and see instantly whether The Expendables or Eat, Pray, Love is the better stocking stuffer this year.
• For shoppers who love to brag about an amazing deal or sale they found, scanning a barcode will enable them to share it with friends on Facebook or email in a snap.

According to Wehrs, shoppers that use UPC codes will be less stressed, will save more money, and best of all, will make their friends and family happy by getting them exactly what they want.

"With UPC codes, shoppers can manage the whole shopping experience right from their phone," said Wehrs. "With barcode scanning growing dramatically over the last year, astute shoppers are ready with this technology right now for their shopping plans this Holiday season."

To get the ScanLife reader, visit http://www.scanlife.com/us/appdownload.html from a desktop or laptop computer, or www.2dscan.com from a mobile browser.

About Scanbuy

Scanbuy is the leading global provider of mobile barcode solutions that use the camera phone as the link between the physical world and the digital world. The ScanLife solution consists of a multi-barcode reader application and interoperable Code Management Platform. The technology has been successfully deployed and supported by leading mobile providers and handset manufacturers in the United States, Mexico, Chile, Spain, Italy and Denmark. Media companies and marketers use the solution to create and manage measurable 2D barcode campaigns, extending brand engagement onto mobile devices.

Scanbuy has the largest and oldest patent portfolio of any company in the industry, with over 30 patents granted covering the entire solution. The company's investors include Motorola Ventures, Hudson Ventures, Masthead Venture Partners, and Longworth Venture Partners.

For more information on Scanbuy, please visit www.scanbuy.com or www.scanlife.com.

SOURCE Scanbuy