Russian citizens will soon be able to buy various goods using QR code-based shop-windows, the business daily Vedomosti reported last week. Russian Railways and the Moscow subway are said to be among the first agencies slated to install such windows on their premises. The former is also planning to put advertisements with QR codes into the high-speed “Sapsan” trains.
The Railways shop-windows will be supplied by Goodwin, a company co-founded by the managers of two major Russian payment operators, Dmitry Shmakov of Chronopay and Sergey Baldin of Qiwi.
Goodwin works as a mobile platform where online retailers can pay for displaying their goods “in the real world” with QR codes next to them. All a customer needs to do is to take a photo of the code, which will lead to Goodwin’s online marketplace.
But Goodwin is also preparing itself for next-gen solutions, Shmakov told East-West Digital News. The company is already testing a system that will enable users to find and order products online after simply taking a picture of them or of advertisements displaying them.
“The main retail trend of 2013–2014 is mixing online and offline activities, along with the introduction of multi-channel sales. We are planning to bring online retailers offline by selling their goods through traditional media,” Shmakov explained. “One of the tasks we want to tackle is to implement the ‘I want the same’ buying mechanism.”
Currently financed by its founders, Goodwin has yet to attract external funding. The company will need “serious money” in the future, Shmakov said, and is already holding negotiations with several funds.
According to Vedomosti, the QR code-based project of the Moscow subway is being carried out with technical support from McKinsey, with online retailer Utkonos as the supplier of the goods for sale. The exact time frames of the project have not yet been disclosed.
