Scan a traditional UPC barcode with software on one of Nokia's latest phones and it will search Krillion's product database, returning information on availability and price based on location.
Sherry Thomas-Zon, chief executive officer at Krillion, tells me the company plans to make an official announcement next week that its technology feeds product search data behind the scenes to support
Nokia's barcode scanner technology.
The software lets consumers scan UPC codes on packages at retail stores and compare prices instantly, as well as order the same product online if they find
it for a cheaper price. Krillion, which focuses on local product search, also supports data streams for ShopSavvy and others.
Although Krillion makes the data available to consumers through
a destination site and search engine results on google.com, the majority of its business supports data feeds to retail stores like Sears in an aim to drive in-store sales.
At Sears, Thomas-Zon
says, the data also appear in store kiosks to give consumers the ability to match prices at Sears with other stores.
Consumer Reports, Nokia, Toshiba and a variety of mobile
partners rely on Krillion to power search on sites as manufacturers and retail stores work more closely to support consumers.
Krillion also is working to provide related local product data
it can feed into rich-media ads. Thomas-Zon tells me the company is working to layer geographic location and pricing data for products that feed into geographic- and behavioral-targeted rich-media
ads. For example, if GE runs an ad on Yahoo for washers across its network of sites, a data feed from Krillion would serve up local price information in the rich-media ad.
The company
serving up the ad would take Krillion's data feed for specific GE product lines and layer it into the geo-targeting ad server to serve inside rich-media ads. "It serves the promise of real dynamic
advertising," Thomas-Zon says. "The relevant content has been what's missing, especially in mobile ads."
This week, Krillion announced it now offers new product purchase, delivery and
fulfillment options to shoppers looking to buy consumer-goods products at local stores, where about 9 out of 10 products are purchased. The information supports already-available information like
product availability for online purchase, on retail Web site or online store, and first available delivery date.
These features are available on the consumer destination site krillion.com
and to business partners like manufacturer, retailers, ad agencies, publishers and content providers, and mobile app developers that license the data feed.