Mobile Geeks of… Marks & Sparks? [UPDATED with QR Code Quick-Reference]

Posted by Ben Smith on 22nd September 2009

Tagged as: , ,

Marks & Spencer, long-time staple of the British high-street and department store choice of the middle-classes has been enjoying a bit of a revival of fortunes of-late… changing its image from the place where your Nan bought her undies to amongst other things, a high-end food retailer.

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NOTE: This post has been updated - see the note at the bottom for full details and a QR Code and Data Matrix quick reference.

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Marks & Spencer... a hotbed of mobile innovation? Picture by Flickr user 'Informatique' used under Creative Commons license.

So I was quite surprise to see - advertised on the shelf - a mobile service… Printed up on the side of their juice bottles. It uses a short-code to provide a free download of some reader software (I tested S60 and iPhone successfully, Android’s our of luck) and a QR code Data Matrix printed on the side of the bottle links to current offers, information and a feedback form.

[Continuity error follows... I was thirsty]

Overall, it’s not a hugely ambitious project - a few discounts and access to information about the store (focusing heavily on their Carbon-reduction plan) but it gets QR codes the concept of Object Hyperlinking and mobile services into an entirely new set of ‘normobs‘…

… and whilst the Data Matrix step feels a little unnecessary (the site the code reader is downloaded from also hosts the other content!) it’s clear this is more of a test for M&S. The system to vary codes and provide customised content isn’t far behind once people are familiar with the process.

And it made me buy an extra juice so I could try it out.

So they’re already £2.50 up (probably).

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UPDATED: Thanks to commenter Mark who correctly identified that M&S are using a Data Matrix, not a QR Code:

QR Code v Data Matrix

This Data Matrix (left) and QR Code (right) contain the same short-link to this page

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  • I love to see technology in action. How can we bring this kind of thing to the US???
  • Mark
    But is it a genuine consumer initiative or just a way of selling an extra juice to we geeky types? (Incidentally, I'm told it's a Data Matrix code, not a QR code - whatever the difference is!)
  • Dammit! Thanks for picking me up on that error. I've corrected the post and added a quick note on the difference.

    Mental note: not all square blobby things = QR Codes.
  • Michael_Josefowicz
    Any explanation of the difference beyond the way they look. What does a datamatrix code do that a QR doesn't do?
  • Mike Bradshaw
    any particular reason you needed to download their special reader program?

    Just checking, but did you know there is a reader program supplied with S60 handsets (at least there is on the E90, it's in the Tools folder)
  • You don't have to if you already have one - there's nothing special about the apps they offer. It's just my aging N82 (and many others I suspect, including iPhones) don't have a suitable app by default.
  • Mike42
    Interesting they chose .mobi ... with less than 4% of the mobile domain market share... what was wrong with m.mands.com?
  • I realise this is something approaching a religious debate for industry-types, but I honestly don't believe 'real people' give a monkey's... m.bla.com or bla.mobi both make them expect it to be a mobile service (probably) and .mobi makes that even clearer for normobs (probably), but otherwise who gives a cr*p?

    For something printed on a small product I would probably choose .mobi just so my brand name wasn't sandwiched between other characters and got better recognition, but that would be about the extent of the worry I expended on the decision.
  • Mike42
    weeeel...no religion here Ben ;-)

    ...but why try to teach people something else, instead of slapping 2 characters (m.) in front of your own URL? Helps re-enforce that too.

    I think the world has spoken anyway: .mobi = margin-of error uptake. Move on, nothing to see here....
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