California Apparel News

Atlanta-based FineLine Technologies has aligned with ClikGenie software consulting and solutions to integrate mobile merchandising bar codes with apparel price tags.

FineLine Technologies provides bar code ticketing solutions for retailers, suppliers and manufacturers—such as Payless Shoe Source, Target and Rue21—along with providing mobile-enabling advertisements from national brands that are available in each store.

ClikGenie’s mobile merchandising service platform works with consumers’ mobile phones to suggest fashion coordinates for a particular item, present multiple outfit presentations, suggest accessories, offer special promotions, and provide merchandise-related content, such as runway videos. The company will work with retailers to develop mobile formats for different categories or products, such as womenswear or footwear, and enable the retailer to easily download images, text and other content, along with their respective mobile codes, to be merged on FineLine’s FastTrak online ticket-ordering system, at which point the tickets can be ordered and delivered to the retailer in 48 hours.

“Global vendor networks can order from virtually anywhere on the planet, confident that the right 2-D tag, complete with variable data, will be shipped on schedule,” said FineLine Technologies Chief Executive Officer George Hoffman. “The alliance makes it much easier for apparel retailers and brands to implement a storewide mobile code program, which, in turn, will allow them to more effectively engage mobile shoppers. The companies’ combined capabilities bring to market an expert source for the creation of turnkey mobile merchandising programs. We provide retailers and brands with both the technology and the 2-D bar-coded tags that trigger in-store promotions, cross-selling, branding, information and social-media sharing, and that can create a long-term communication channel with customers.”

With the new collaboration, a consumer looking at a particular item can scan the 2-D bar code and be presented with sale items or matching shoes or accessories that complement the item and are just a few aisles away.

FineLine’s bar code readers support most major 2-D mobile bar codes—including QR codes, EZcode, Microsoft tag, DataMatrix and UPC—as well as ScanLife and I-nigma.—Deidre Crawford.