Mike de Block

Turning waiting time into shopping time by letting stores blend into the daily lifes of their consumers. Tesco’s subsidiary Home Plus from Korea, did it as it’s a perfect example how a brand can facilitates value by making the lives of their consumer a bit easier. Since instead of spending time on grocery shopping, consumers have now more time to enjoy the food they purchased at Home Plus. 

UPDATE: Not 2 x 1, but 1 x 2 offers in the supermarket via QR tags

Using mobile phones, consumers will be able to buy one product for themselves and another for the children in need, sharing their action through social networks to amplify the impact of each transaction. The application which will support the initiative will have a Facebook app where users will be able to visualize and track their donations.Another great example how QR tags can be used in the retail environment.

Update 2: Shoppers collectively reduce supermarket prices via Facebook check-ins.

I’ve already covered @4foodnyc in my slideshare presentation for it’s perfect integration of social & retail, but now ICA (subsidiary of Ahold) supermarkets from Sweden has done something talk worthy as well. ICA enables their customers to individually reduce the price on a selected item by checking in at the store via a link or a QR code. However, my only problem with this campaign is that all shoppers who checked in will try to buy the product a second before it’s about to expire in order to get the best price. Nevertheless, it’s a good example of how handing over control can increase your brand goodwill and lure customers to your store. Hopefully, their mother company, Ahold, has paid attention and implement a spin-off in their current non-social stores of Albert Heijn (NL).