On last week’s episode of For Immediate Release, my co-host, Neville Hobson, reported on a study that revealed one-third of UK consumers were shopping via mobile.

The study looked at consumers using their mobile devices to access retailer sites, but it got me thinking about how brick-and-mortar retailers can tap into their customers’ increasing reliance on mobile. On this week’s show, our tech correspondent, Dan York, mentioned that he had visited a Borders bookstore but, after using his smartphone to check Amazon’s prices for the same hardcovers—which ran as much as $10 less—he decided not to buy from the physical bookstore.

That reminded me of my experience a few months ago at my local Best Buy. I was looking for the furniture on which you set a large flat-panel television, but the cards attached to each floor sample contained woefully little information. What they did include was a QR code. I scanned the code, which took me to a Best Buy page that contained a lot more information.

The difference between my experience and Dan’s is that Dan sought information from a third party while I got mine from the company in whose store I was shopping. Which is what got me wondering: What else can brick-and-mortar retailers do via mobile to reduce hassle or improve the shopping experience for their in-store customers? After all, according to one article I read, research predicted that two-thirds of retailers wereplanning a digital mobile initiative launch before the end of 2010. (I have no idea whether that prediction came to pass.

QR codes can do more than expand on the information that fits on a three-by-five index card:

• If you’re confident of your prices, go ahead and show a comparison of other local retailers’ prices for the same product
• Migrate your loyalty programs away from plastic cards and to mobile devices. As Jeff Wideauer put it in the blog Marketing with New Technology

Consider the possibilities if (a loyalty) program is tied to shoppers via their mobile device rather than a key tag. And instead of just getting the results of shopper behavior after the fact, consider the benefits of getting in on the pre-shop planning: list-making, coupons, etc. Then follow the shopper to the store and connect with her there via QR codes at the shelf edge ??? codes that are unique to that store and offer benefits that are relevant to that local shopper. Then follow up with the shopper with a post-shop program that could include surveys, savings analyses to show her how much she saved, and offers for her next trip to make sure it???s to your store.

• Multimedia can also be invoked with a QR code. Looking at a camera and want to see a video on how to mount and unmount a lens on this model? Scan the appropriate code in the camera section of the store.
• Include signage in your store that lets shoppers use their phones to sign up for an email newsletter or some other kind of update that provides them with information about sales, coupons, new products and the like.
• Let customers use a QR code to download a podcast or audio file. (I reported back in September that signs on Tri Delta Transit buses from the Contra Costa County Library let riders download audio books directly to their phones.) Of course, you’d better have interesting audio content for them!
• For big box retailers, QR codes can be used for wayfinding. At a directory, scan the code for the department you’re looking for, then let your phone show you the way.
• Put QR codes in your print advertising to give consumers instant access to more information about sale products and the store (such as turn-by-turn driving directions from their current location).

But tapping into mobile for the in-person retail experience isn’t limited to QR codes. (Solid mobile versions of their websites don’t count; that’s just the price of admission.) Just a few thoughts that swam through my head when I was recording FIR #581 with Neville include…

• Using SMS to subscribe to information or get additional information about products and services
• Let customers check out with their phones using PayPal or some of the other payment systems that are emerging (and already a normal part of the process in Japan)
• Let customers ask questions without having to hunt down a store employee who isn’t already busy dealing with another customer
• Store locator apps can help you find the closest retailer outlet.

And these are just the thoughts I had while briefly thinking about it in the midst of a podcast recording session. How would you like to see your favorite brick-and-mortar retailer start using mobile technology?