Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

Effortless/easy only happens when the product works perfectly. Big Blue deserves applause for thinking big and for trying to craft something that could truly advance shopping efforts. But the level of complexity it’s introducing is likely to create an initial experience quite far from effortless.

Amazon’s augmented-reality mobile app (called Flow) lies somewhere in between IBM’s and QThru’s efforts. It also superimposes data over products, but its product identification uses reliable barcode scanning and QR code scanning.

QThru is actually part of a more comprehensive service, with mobile payment. The idea is that shoppers download the app, arrange for payment, and then go shopping. After items are scanned, the phone or tablet interacts with a kiosk (there are alternative methods, as well), where a receipt is printed. An associate then matches the receipt against the products in the cart and customers are sent on their way, bypassing POS lanes entirely—in theory. It could also use a self-checkout lane, except that all of the items have already been scanned and the payment has already been processed.

QThru’s Stafford said his company was initially using eBay’s RedLaser mobile app but stopped because of concerns. First, he said, “it had issues with low light” that caused problems identifying products. Second, he was nervous about what direction eBay may ultimately take for RedLaser. “It was unclear what the future was going to hold for that. Will they keep it public or lock it down and license it, limiting the accessibility?”

Stafford also touched on weaknesses that QThru’s homegrown app still has to overcome. “We can certainly scan items at an ultra-quick rate, but there are asterisks. If an item is flat with a prominent and clean barcode on the packaging, it tends to scan much more quickly than, let’s say, a wrinkled bag of potato chips,” Stafford said. “That is why I chose to show off the scanning on the small can. Anything with glare or hard curves can slow it down. But it still performs as good as or better than RedLaser.”

One beta tester for QThru is Tyler Myers, President of The Myers Group, which owns a few grocery stores, three hardware stores and three convenience stores/gas stations. Myers said they installed scales for him in produce, where receipts are printed after fruits and vegetables are weighed and the app scans “some sort of a code that the QThru app reads.”

He’s also limiting purchases on the system to 10 or fewer items “until we get our arms wrapped around it.” But Myers’ key question is whether such apps will ultimately increase—or decrease—basket sizes.

There’s an interesting psychological rationale for why it might increase purchases, especially after the novelty wears off. Today, shoppers are hesitant to add too many additional items to their shopping cart, because they know of the multiple delays every extra item will cause. That’s one more item that needs to be taken out of the cart and put onto the conveyor belt, one more item that needs to be taken off the belt and bagged. By bypassing traditional POS lanes, there is less of a time-crunch penalty for adding items.

Whether customers will realize that, though, is a very different question.

The ease-of-use issue, however, is likely to be the most critical factor in the success of any of these approaches. A customer who runs into just a few glitches during an early test is much less likely to try again. It may not be nearly as sexy as what IBM and Amazon are pitching, but if QThru’s approach identifies products more accurately, reliably and quickly, that may just be sexier than superimposed on-screen discounts.