Big In Japan Buys Snappr Off Clearance Rack For ShopSavvy Boost

• Rob Jackson
• 15 years ago

Big In Japan is the company behind one of Android’s most popular applications – ShopSavvy. Scan a barcode and in a matter of seconds you can see where online and locally you can buy the product for cheaper as well as read reviews, make wishlists and more.

Meanwhile, Snappr used to be a big player in 2D barcode technology but late in 2009 the company folded according to TechCrunch. Now it appears they’ve been unfolded and acquired by Big In Japan, allowing them to utilize Snappr’s technology in their own apps. In addition, Snappr founder Philip Stehlik will sit on BIJ’s board of advisors.

Check it out – they’re former website (http://snappr.net) already redirects to their new home (http://www.biggu.com/snappr). They take a minute to praise Philip for his work with Snappr and claim he has already helped the company a great deal, mentioning they’ve been hard at work incorporating Snappr into ShopSavvy. But here is what I find most interesting:

ShopSavvy’s new branding campaign aims to not only put a QR code on advertisements, but also label it with a “Scan with ShopSavvy” logo that I think is absolutely brilliant. You don’t know HOW MANY TIMES I’ve been asked what those little barcode looking things on posts are… and the Savvy people at ShopSavvy aim to bridge this American gap:

The biggest problem with QR Codes is that American consumers don’t know what a 2D barcode is. They need some help understanding how to react to a QR Code printed on a billboard or in a magazine advertisement. Our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ program was designed to solve this problem. Millions of ShopSavvy users already use the application to scan 1D barcodes, but many of them have no idea that ShopSavvy will scan open standard 2D barcodes (i.e. QR Code), but they do understand the concept of scanning.Our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ program allows brands to leverage our ‘trained’ user base by including our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ badge anywhere they print a 2D barcode. Consumers can use ANY QR-capable scanner (50+ today), but the program attempts to short circuit the call to action by showing the user he can use an application he already has on his smartphone.

ShopSavvy is offering this capability to the vast majority of brands for FREE as a way to promote QR codes overall (and their brand of course). They also provide analytics by tracking how many times it has been scanned – I’m assuming by passing each scan through a redirect link.

ShopSavvy is a great success story and I’m glad to see they’re not being complacent but constantly moving forward. I can’t wait to see one of these ads in public.