Scan and buy in The Times

The tie-up between old media’s power to recommend off the page and new media’s ease as a utility takes another step forward this week.

The Times is promoting a further “scan to shop” option around its writers’ Autumn fashion picks. Launched last week “it was such a success that we are offering it again,” the paper trumpets.

The service works with the Aurasma Lite app on both iPhone and Android devices, and covers ten items chosen by the fashion team. It appears in The Times 2 section.

In the same edition there is a ten-page Brand Alley advertisement feature – with the more “traditional” suggestion that you go online to buy.

NewsLine did request some further information on take-up from the Times. Detailed figures were not forthcoming, but Hugh Mark, head of ad innovation at News International said: “We are very happy about the reaction from both advertisers and consumers about our first augmented reality T2 edition last week. With thousands of users interacting with the supplement we have decided to continue using augmented reality for T2 on a weekly basis”.