This holiday shopping season eBay will be making it extra easy for people to find the items they’re looking for via the latest version of its RedLaser mobile app, which enables users to search for prices on all kinds of items by either scanning a bar code or QR code or typing in the product’s name. Previously the app has shown the price for an item at both online and local brick-and-mortar retailers, but now RedLaser users can also see a selection of local retailers that have the item in stock and that allow for purchasing it through the mobile app. Shoppers can now complete a transaction using PayPal and pick up the purchased item later at the store.
The new feature is part of eBay’s growing focus on mobile, and showcases the technology it acquired last December when it bought Milo, which aggregates product info for local stores.
If you’re a retailer and you’d love to be able to ping customers’ phones with a discount while they’re in your store, you may soon be able to do that. According to CNET, eBay sees the technology as a way to help retailers develop a new kind of relationship with consumers, particularly one that lets the stores know something about potential customers before they go through the cash register.
Read more at CNET.
