Bauer’s bet on making print a major part of the e-commerce funnel (thedrum.com)
E-commerce has seen years’ worth of growth in a short few months. Consumers, stuck at home, have rapidly become habituated to purchasing online, which has benefited online marketplaces and publishers with strong affiliate and e-commerce programs of their own. But for publishers with a strong print portfolio the question has become how they can use those print products to open the funnel to e-commerce revenue without being too interruptive. Bauer is betting on the advancement of image recognition technology to close that gap between print and digital. Both Grazia and Heat are set to incorporate new scannable images – without the need for QR codes or watermarks – from May 17. These images, once scanned, will then take readers directly to a storefront for more information and purchase options.