GS1 MobileCom claims extended packaging is real

Rating: Defining how cameraphones interact with retail packaging

The wheels are slowly grinding towards standards for the use of mobile-friendly barcodes by retailers on a global basis. That’s what the GS1 MobileCom working group is hoping to achieve, thanks to a recent meeting in Paris. The claim is that ‘Extended Packaging’ is now a reality.

Vanderlei Roque dos Santos, who is co-chair of the GS1 MobileCom working  group and represents Nestlé,  claimed, “Extended Packaging is a reality for consumers. It’s our job to make sure the services we offer reach the widest audience. That’s only possible with the right standards in place.”

Extended Packaging defines how consumers can get product information on their mobile phones by scanning a barcode on product packaging,  for example. Members of the MobileCom group have been sharing information about extended packaging trials and plans to launch schemes in 2010

Carrefour is preparing a service that will launch in January 2010 while Nokia has run successful pilots involving wine, jeans and DVDs. Significantly, Franprix (part of the Casino supermarket group) has launched a live mobile application giving consumers access to information to help them choose wine.

The application was launched during France’s busy September Wine Festival season. Encouragingly, over two thirds of consumers interviewed found the service useful.

One conclusion from the meeting was that the GS1 MobileCom working group is striving to define the means of allowing trusted information to be available in an open format for extended packaging.

The group is hoping to publish a White Paper that provides recommendations on how retail stores can interact with mobile phones this month [December 2009].

In addition, the group defined the scope of a project on global standards for mobile coupons.