Commonwealth Bank And Hoyts Trialling In-Cinema Smart Ordering Service

Picture this: You’re sitting in La Premiere, watching the latest superhero blockbuster on the big screen. Just as the superhero in question is about to be pummelled by the bad guy, you have a sudden and irrepressible craving for a choc top. Do you leave the movie to satisfy your hunger, missing the key action sequence? Or do you suffer through until the movie shifts to the unavoidable romance subplot? The answer is neither, thanks to a new technology being trialled by Mastercard, Commbank and Hoyts.

Dubbed QkR, the pilot is being trialled at La Premiere Hoyts cinemas at Westfield Chatswood and The Entertainment Quarter in Sydney. Customers can download the QkR app for either Android or iOS. The app then offers three ways to order snacks – by scanning a QR code with your smartphone’s camera, by using an NFC-enabled device next to a QR code or by manually entering the unique scan code.

It’s not exactly clear how the QR codes will be displayed in the cinema, although given it includes the option to order a complete meal, I’d assume they would be on a customised menu located at every seat. Each QR code would have to be unique for each seat as well, so hopefully the menus will be fixed in place so you don’t end up buying a choc-top for the douche at the back of the theatre talking on his phone.

While it seems like a pretty cool use of technology to streamline the ordering and payment system, it’s still only a trial, and probably won’t be rolled out in the long term for a while yet. But anything that helps make my phone a wallet-replacement is okay by me…


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