Technology major IBM has unveiled a new retail technology targeting enterprise customers.
The new mobile technology enables consumers to scan items into a mobile phone as they shop the aisles, and check themselves out at an IBM self-checkout station.
The IBM Mobile Shopper application incorporates Honeywell mobile scanning technology that scans any bar code.
The new solution is designed to help retailers provide a customized in-store shopping experience for smart phone shoppers.
The solution currently runs on the Google Android and Apple iOS operating systems, is highly reliable and offers sub-second response time.
A recent IBM Institute of Business Value study said self checkout is the preferred way to shop for most consumers today, and they are very specific about the way they want to use mobile technology while shopping.
More than 50 percent say they want to use a mobile device to scan while shopping, and to do final checkout at a self-checkout station. More than 40 percent want to scan samples and retrieve shopping items for pickup, or have the items delivered directly to their homes.
"Retailers can now deliver a more personalized shopping experience that is less of a chore and more of a convenience for consumers. By enabling consumers to scan and check-out a wide variety of products at their own pace, retailers can not only create a more customized shopping environment, but also increase in-store traffic," said John Gaydac, vice president, IBM Retail Store Solutions.
The new mobile phone application is powered by IBM ACE software, Store Integrator software, and the newest release of IBM Self-Checkout software, which provides shoppers the same access to digital coupons, loyalty programs and special promotions at self-checkout stations that is traditionally available at fully-staffed point-of-sale checkout lanes.
"Honeywell has a long heritage of providing bar code scanning for mission-critical applications where inaccuracy is not an option," said John Waldron, president of Honeywell Scanning & Mobility.
Honeywell said its SwiftDecoder Mobile bar code decoding software has helped secure the company's leadership in camera-based bar code decoding. Among them is the practice of decoding bar code-related information from a real-time video image, such as the display of a smart phone or other mobile device.