MRT station uses QR codes to allow commuters in Singapore to purchase groceries

QR Code Wall

QR Code Wall
The commuters in Singapore who use the Boon Lay and Bugis MRT stations now have an added service available to them, which involves the ability to purchase their groceries with their smartphones by scanning QR codes.

The transit stations feature walls with images of products next to the two dimensional bar codes. By scanning the codes, commuters are redirected to the mobile site for Cold Storage, where they can enter their details and have their grocery items delivered to their homes.

SMRT Investments managing director, Dawn Loh, explained that many commuters are very short on time. This limits their opportunity to complete their grocery shopping errands. Therefore, being able to shop online makes a great deal of sense to these individuals. With a virtual store accessible through the highly used public transportation system, Loh said that “we hope that the commuters can take onto this very quickly and more will come on board.”

At the same time, entrepreneur Lee Xian Jie, who uses the Bugis MRT station, said that the initiative’s implementation was flawed.

He noted that the chosen location was not inside the station. As those areas are subject to high volumes of traffic, it makes it very challenging for commuters to be able to stop to scan the QR codes. He added that the ads would have been more successful if they had been located on the sliding glass doors or in the platform area itself, since that is where people are simply standing around and waiting.

The grocery shopping wall in the stations became available on December 7, and will continue through December 20, 2011.

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