Writing is on the subway walls for PayPal QR code campaign

In 15 of Singapore's subway stations commuters can use their smartphones to quickly select and purchase exclusive Valentine's Day deals by scanning a QR code.

The codes are presented on large billboards and provide a variety of the usual Valentine's fayre including flowers, chocolates, spa treatments and tickets for shows.

PayPal says that, part from a smartphone onto which an app with bar-code scanning capabilities has been downloaded, no additional infrastructure is required for merchants, retailers or consumers.

"With our global expertise in mobile commerce, we are bringing to life the digital wallet for Singaporean consumers by offering them a faster and safer way to pay on their way to work or while heading home," said Elias Ghanem, Managing Director, PayPal Southeast Asia & India, in a recent blog post. "This pilot is yet another step in delivering PayPal's vision for the future of commerce, anytime, anywhere and any way."

Late last year travelers at Bugis and Boon Lay stations on Singapore's subway system were able to scan barcodes to cram in some Christmas food shopping while on their way to and from work.

Wall space at the two stations was given over to a virtual store by Cold Storage, a popular fresh food retail chain in Singapore.

A number of similar executions have already been tested by companies such as Tesco and Ocado. In a first for the UK, online-only supermarket Ocado launched a similar pop-up virtual store in September last year.

Tags: barcode, consumer goods, marketing campaign, mobile app, mobile commerce, mobile marketing, qr codes