Grand Valley State University has launched a new, free mobile application for the iPhone and Android combining bar code scanning software, game mechanics and social media in a retail setting.
Shop Social is an experimental mobile app built and developed by student and faculty researchers in the
Mobile Applications and Service Lab in Grand Valley's School of Computing and Information Systems.
According to Jonathan Engelsma, associate professor of computing, development began last winter as students reviewed how shoppers using mobile technology use bar codas for price comparisons.
The idea for their app began when they explored how integrating more data, especially user-generated content and gaming technology similar to Foursquare, could make a more robust shopping experience.
Their development process led them to create an application that scanned bar codes, then retrieved relevant photos from Flickr, videos from YouTube and product reviews within seconds.
The app also included a "Social" tab, enabling users to share their product interests with friends on Facebook while, through its gaming element, allowing users to earn "badges" over time.
Besides acting as a great research project, Engelsma strongly feels that this app provides a "tremendous opportunity for brick and mortars to look at mobile technology," providing more data as well as improving the shopping experience, similar to what Amazon.com does online.
Engelsma indicates their mobile and learning lab is primarily for research and learning, and would encourage companies to contact him for collaborative opportunities.
Shop Social is available at the iTunes store and the Android app is available in Android Market. For more information, you can visit their site
here.Source: Jonathan Engelsma, GVSU
Writer: John Rumery, innovation and jobs editor
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.