Read, snap buy: See something you like in a magazine? Now you can shop from a magazine with new Singapore technology being trialled in Thailand.
iQNect is a Singapore company described by Enterprise Innovation as a “visual search startup”. It has partnered with a Thai creative agency C True to merge image recognition technology with an mCommerce application to allow readers of two Thai magazines to literally shop from a photo.
Two popular Thai magazines are involved in the trial – fashion publication Image and IN – along with four international titles, Her World, Maxim, Madame Figaro and Attitude.
As Enterprise Innovation explains “iQNect’s visual search app enables magazine readers to access interactive digital content simply by taking a picture of any page’s images with their smartphone. This instantly brings up content like videos, invitations, exclusive digital offers or coupons and the option to buy the item photographed without having to go to a website or store.”
“We challenge the belief that print is a dying medium,” Niamh Byrne, iQNect COO told the website.
“Visual search acts as a bridge between the sumptuous tactility of print media and the instant responsiveness of mCommerce.”
iQNect’s full mCommerce platform will be publicly available from mid-November.
Read more about the technology on Enterprise Innovation.