Shifts in technology and consumer behavior are often compelling retailers to increase the innovation stakes. As the retail sector is undergoing a transformation in terms of digitalisation retail executives are adapting their brick-and-mortar stores to bring technology in, and together with service performance, deliver better customer value. The use of mobile devices for communication with consumers has become a strategy to, for example, support consumer relationships and it is important, not only to view the retail side of for instance investment decisions regarding mobile communication but also the value of this for the consumer. The smart phone era characterizes the contemporary retail sector and consumer behavior and mobile devices offer retailers a great opportunity to develop new innovations. Information communication technologies (ICT) used in retail settings are beginning to focus on services that help shoppers plan their shopping trip, often in terms of mobile apps and interactive dialogue services (Retail Week, 2014; Ström, Vendel & Bredican, 2014). However, given that technology investments can exceed millions of dollars, and that many retailers' margins and inventory productivity have been eroding over the last ten years, the stakes for information technology decisions have grown exponentially, so care must be taken in making these decisions in order to avoid the so called profit destroying innovation (Chopra & Baldegger, 2014). There are many battles to be won within the retailing sector and how to manage innovations. Sometimes “old technology” with potential might be an alternative to incremental new operations and might trigger innovation and efficiency. An easy and affordable alternative for organisations might be to implement the technology of Quick Response Codes (QR codes). QR codes have been widely employed in many industries around the world (Choi & Sethi, 2010), but are less commonly used in the interface between firms and consumers. In many countries, consumers do not take an interest in scanning QR codes, thus, leaving the retail industry uninterested in developing this communication technology. This could be a mistake, as we believe there is a great potential in developing consumer interfaces with the help of QR codes. The use of mobile devices for communication with consumers has become a strategy regarding mobile applications, however, the QR codes

might be an alternative with low costs and high value. Retail companies using QR codes today; use them in marketing promotions such as discount and advertisements in a “push” format to individuals who have the ability to read the symbol. (Lorenzi et al., 2014). Some actors such as Uniqlo, Topshop, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein, use QR codes as a tool to inform consumers about their communication strategies to create both good customer relationships and engagement in the brand. The traditional way of using QR codes is by putting them in media outside the fixed store, i.e. in ads, in newsletters and in print campaigns. In theory, for instance QR codes, should work as a classic “push” strategy but this research shows how QR codes and other classic marketing promotion used in a digitized context is ineffective and does not give consumer value and thus in spite of being a rather cheap way of communicating with consumers and providing value becomes an obstacle and unnecessary effort when used in the wrong way. This research investigates different promotional tools in a digitized context by consumer testing in a research lab setting as well as testing in store.

The case studies show that consumer insight is not only important but crucial in order to provide value added services to customers in a digitized retail context. Pure technology or advanced high tech services cannot be used to push customers into the store. Instead innovations must be designed with a pull strategy and a communicated and true value within each new innovation given to customers.