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Big W introduces in-app transactions and lay-by

Big W has revamped its iPhone app, making it possible to shop from Big W within the app — and, in a first for Australia, make lay-bys.

Michelle Starr Science editor
Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
Michelle Starr
2 min read

Big W has revamped its iPhone app, making it possible to shop from Big W within the app — and, in a first for Australia, make lay-bys.

(Credit: Michelle Starr/CNET Australia)

Launching today outside Sydney's Queen Victoria Building, the Big W app for iPhone is getting a head start on Christmas shopping with a giant toy sale.

Alas, you can't shop the entire Big W store — the app's catalogue is limited to what's in the most recent three Big W paper catalogues, sent weekly, which are handily available to browse from within the app.

One feature that particularly piques our interest is the use of QR codes. Each double-page spread of the catalogue delivered to your mailbox has a QR code on the left-hand page; scanning that code with your phone will bring up all of the items on the two pages, so that you don't have to browse the entire catalogue to find the item you're looking for.

The QR code lets you see all items on a double-page spread in-app. (Credit: Michelle Starr/CNET Australia)

While Big W is not the first shopping app in Australia — the Woolworths app has allowed you to shop from your phone for some time (both stores are owned by Woolworths Limited) — it is the first to allow shoppers to make no-deposit lay-bys directly from the app.

The barcode scanner from the previous version of the app has been carried over as well, but with an added bonus: even if the item isn't in the catalogue, if Big W stocks it, you can make a purchase — and, if you find it cheaper elsewhere, Big W will match it, with free shipping on smaller items within metro areas.

At this point, an Android app is still in the works, Big W's Head of Online Daniel McMahon told CNET Australia, along with a mobile site for other smartphone OSes.

Big W will be demonstrating the app outside the Queen Victoria Building for the rest of today, so head on down and take a look.