News

IBM, retail partners testing augmented reality

July 2, 2012

IBM may soon roll out augmented reality to help retailers better serve their customers, according to a story on PCWorld.com, that said the company's research labs have designed a mobile application that gives shoppers more product info while also gathering their demographic info for retailers.

"This is a neat way of providing customers with more information about products, which they would normally [research] on the Web," Jill Puleri, IBM retail vice president, said in the story. "It's also a way for a retailer to target and change behavior, and get some cross-selling and up-selling going with consumers."

How it works

A shopper would have to download the application, register and fill out a user profile and then scan a product with his phone, which would then use the phone's built-in video camera to identify the product using image-processing techniques. Once identified, the app can then download more product information from an IBM server. The app could also send a notice to the user's social networks, alerting friends and associates that this individual is shopping, with his permission, of course.

Read more about assisted selling.