**Fashion & beauty e-tailer launches Aurasma-enabled "Scan to Shop" app**
**ASOS Magazine's 450k readers can now buy straight from its augmented pages**
LONDON, May 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Global online fashion and beauty retailer ASOS has launched its first augmented magazine. 450,000 readers of the magazine - which is free to customers - can now download ASOS's Aurasma-powered "Scan to Shop" app to their smartphones to bring the pages to video life. In addition, they'll be able to point their phones at images of this season's must have pieces and simply click to buy from ASOS's mobile site.
ASOS's "Scan to Shop" app is powered by Aurasma and can be downloaded for free from the App Store and Google Play. Aurasma uses cutting-edge image recognition technology to recognise images and then augment them with interactive digital content called "auras".
In total there are over 50 different auras throughout the May issue of ASOS Magazine, transforming the journey from magazine, to website and to purchase. In addition, ASOS has incorporated a digital treasure hunt into the magazine, where hidden symbols can be unlocked in return for exclusive offers.
ASOS have become the second major global e-retailer in as many weeks to choose to roll out Aurasma's technology. Last week saw eBay launch a nationwide Aurasma-enabled print and outdoor campaign.
Ebay and ASOS join a growing number of online retailers around the world including Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter who are using Aurasma to engage customers beyond their website and transform the way customers buy clothes.
Duncan Edwards from ASOS Magazine commented: "Aurasma's technology has given us a neat way to connect the website with the printed magazine. We know our readers love fashion and their mobiles and this app unites the two. Our readers look forward to receiving the magazine in the post, but they also want the convenience and immediacy of shopping via their phones. Our new "Scan to Shop" app uses Aurasma to bring the two experiences – reading the magazine and shopping online – together seamlessly and we look forward to exploring other uses for this technology."
Martina King, Managing Director at Aurasma, said: "We're delighted to partner with ASOS, one of the world's biggest fashion e-tailers, to bring a whole new dimension to the shopping experience. ASOS have taken our technology to the next level and their magazine is bursting with fantastic content and great fashion, which can now come to life thanks to the new "Scan to Shop" app with Aurasma inside. ASOS customers are addicted to fashion and to their phones so this partnership with Aurasma promises to be the perfect fit!"
Notes to Editors
ABOUT AURASMA
Aurasma is the world's first visual browser – a new augmented reality technology that merges the physical world with the virtual. Available as a free app for iPhones, iPads and high-powered Android devices or as a free kernel for developers, Aurasma uses advanced image and pattern recognition to recognise and understand real-world images and objects in much the same way as the human brain does. It then seamlessly blends the real-world with rich interactive content such as videos and animations called "Auras".
Auras can be created for printed images, product packaging, clothing, physical places and users can even use the app to create and share their own. Since its launch in June 2011, Aurasma has had more than three million downloads. Over 4,000 partners in markets including retail, fashion, sport, automotive, consumer electronics, entertainment, advertising and publishing are using the free technology in their campaigns, on their products or embedding the technology in their own applications. Aurasma was developed by software company Autonomy – an HP Company.
ABOUT ASOS
Established in June 2000, ASOS.com <http://www.asos.com> is the UK's largest independent online fashion and beauty retailer, offering over 50,000 branded and own label product lines across womenswear – including dresses, shoes, jewellery and beauty; and menswear, including jeans, shoes and shirts.
1,500 – 2,000 new product lines are being introduced each week. Aimed primarily at fashion forward 16 – 34 year olds, ASOS.com attracts over 18.5 million unique visitors a month and as of 31st December 2011 had 7 million registered users and 4 million active customers. ASOS recently launched standalone websites in the US, France, Germany, Australia, Spain and Italy and delivers to 191 countries.
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