Alberta jumpstarts e-commerce innovation
The Alberta Innovation Voucher Pilot programme has awarded Calgary-based Shopster e-commerce funding to support the release of the new Shopster merchant network, reports PRWeb.
"Alberta is a very supportive environment for innovation in technology and it's exciting for us to grow our global business out of this province. Shopster's next product release, coming in late June, revolutionises our current e-commerce offering and creates a new more efficient world of commerce.
The Shopster merchant network will make e-commerce accessible to every online seller, allowing them to create and nurture their business at a fraction of the cost of traditional commerce", says Sarath Samarasekera, founder and CEO of Shopster.
KiosKiosK opens doors for entrepreneurs
Mangrove Consulting founder Justin Wright has introduced KiosKiosK, a solution he says may be an affordable way for new entrepreneurs to set up shop, says Real Business.
“Some call it a 'pop-up-shop' but I'd call it a low-cost retail solution for creative entrepreneurs and small businesses. It's the latest brainchild of design crusaders Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway,” says Wright.
Anybody working in the creative industries - design, fashion, craft, music - needing an affordable outlet to sell their wares can use KiosKiosK. The initial focus is London but if successful, expect to see the funky kiosks in cities throughout the UK.
The barcode turns 35
June marks the 35th anniversary of the Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode, states The Daily Record. “Barcodes are everywhere, they're so ingrained in modern life,” said Jon Mellor, a spokesman for GS1 US, the developer and administrator of the UPC barcode for more than 200 000 businesses in the US.
These simple tags with 59 black and white bars and 12 accompanying digits revolutionised the retail industry in 1974 from one of inefficiency and uncertainty to one of reliable product tracking and instant results, he and others said.
But a new technology is on the way that, while it won't completely replace the barcode, will take some of its business. RFIDs can contain more data than a barcode, such as package origination and routing data, and can be passed through a sensing device rather than scanned by humans.