Ocado will this week unveil a ‘shopping wall’ in London that lets passers-by do their grocery shopping by scanning barcodes with their mobile phones.

The wall – situated on an empty shop front in the busy One New Change shopping centre near St Paul’s – is a first in the UK. It comes after a similar trial by Tesco carried out in a South Korean subway.

The Ocado wall, which will operate on a trial basis until 1 September, will display images of everything from loo roll to treats from the Reflets de France range.

Passers-by can fill virtual shopping baskets by scanning barcodes using their smartphones. But before they get started, shoppers will have to download the Ocado On The Go app.

If the trial proves successful, Ocado plans to set up new walls in other empty shop units around the UK.

“We hope this trial is a hit and, based on its success, we’ll be looking at options around continuing this ‘virtual window shopping’ approach in other locations,” said Ocado co-founder Jason Gissing.

Read more
Introducing Blippar, ‘the end for QR codes’ (17 August 2011)
High-tech retail: back to the future (30 July 2011)

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