As Amazon increasingly blends the physical and digital worlds, it’s latest move is an attempt to make magazines shoppable. It will be an interesting test of the concept, and its success could mean as much or more to the publishers of major print magazines as it does to Amazon. While the content unlocked by the SmileCode could be a product page, it could also be a gateway to more messaging.
“The content is code-specific and could be anything from a product detail page to an exclusive movie trailer, a recipe and more,” The Amazon spokeswoman noted. She added that SmileCodes in many cases will have short labels describing what they are for, such as “scan to shop” or “scan to watch an exclusive trailer,” unless they are positioned in such a way that makes it obvious where they lead.
