Are You Ready For Instant Gratification?

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. - Jan. 17, 2014 - PRLog -- And, that spot could be a magazine ad, a television show or even a refrigerator.  If that is what you are longing for, your hopes may become reality a lot sooner than you thought possible.

MasterCard recently announced a partnership with Conde Nast, the publisher of many popular magazines including Vogue, Vanity Fair and Wired.  The partnership is called ShopThis and began with the November issue of Wired.  Readers can instantly buy items described in an article or pictured in an ad.  Paydiant, a mobile payment platform developer, has created technology for scanning QR codes off a television screen to instantly buy something that appeals to a viewer in a commercial or even during a show.  Peapod, an online grocer that offers home delivery, recently added a feature on its mobile app that allows people to restock food and household items by scanning bar codes at home with their smart phones.

Many marketers feel that the whole world is seeking instant gratification and they are determined to feed this need and profit from it.  Some of their efforts still have a far out feel.  Recently, MasterCard held a conference called “The Future of Shopping.”  Women tested a virtual 3-D fitting room app that takes a photo of the shopper and uses her measurements to create an avatar to try on clothes to show the shopper how the garments will actually look on her.  Also at the conference, a man wearing Google Glasses, a computer that resembles eyeglasses, demonstrated the ability to find, order and pay for coffee from a nearly coffee shop with a couple of taps on the frames.

Garry Lyons, MasterCard’s Chief Innovation Officer, sees no reason why ShopThis couldn’t be expanded to interact with watching a movie or video.  “If you see an actor who has a nice shirt on, you activate ShopThis and purchase it.”  Lyons even speculated that someday refrigerators could be programmed to send an alert when milk is low or even send an order.  Washing machines could do the same for detergent.

Whether or not you desire this next level of instant gratification, it’s going to soon be all around you.

Some of the information used in this Blog came from a New York Times article written by Hilary Stout.

Until Next Time, Richard Blumberg, The Print Maven

Richard Blumberg has almost 30 years experience as a distributor of Imaging equipment and supplies. He was an owner of Richard Young Products and American Ribbon and Toner and is currently an officer of American Toner and Ink Corporation