By no means am I making a cheeky- okay, maybe I am making a cheeky reference to the high tensions on the Korean Pennsula, but I do hope that the ongoing problems can be solved peacefully without destabilizing the region.
What I am referring to though, is Johnson’s blog post about Homeplus Subway Shopping. Johnson outlines Homeplus’ advertising campaign that focuses on two of the 4 Ps : Place and Promotion. I would even argue that this new and innovative method changes the product P, as now Homeplus isn’t providing a retail location where consumers shop for products. Instead, they are providing a service that directly delivers goods to consumers’ homes.
Homeplus utilizes large billboards displaying products along with their QR codes to allow consumers to shop on their smart phones as they pass by these images. Once consumers scan the associated QR code into their phone, these groceries are eventually delivered to their homes. I agree with Johnson’s analysis of Homeplus using this tactic to target time-poor consumers- and to be frank, we are all becoming increasingly time poor. While this method has worked tremendously in Korea, I would have hesitations about the same campaign if used in North America. QR Code penetration has been poor, and North American usage of public transit is lower than South Korea. It would be a daunting task to find similar locations with such high visibility in North America. Personally, I have never used the QR code scanner on my phone, and I have serious doubts that QR codes could be implemented at its current state now. Furthermore, high cost mobile data plans in North America may severely limit the target market that a company could reach! As somebody who DOES have a smart phone, who DOES take the public transit, and who DOES have a data plan, I still think there is a super cool idea.
Cool in South Korea, not so kosher in Canada, yet.
