Office Depot has become the first retail chain to roll out Shazam In-Store, a mobile marketing platform that makes use of the Shazam music discovery app, inaudible digital watermarks, a merchant’s overhead music system and a location-based platform developed by Mood Media to send promotional messages to shoppers’ mobile phones.

The service is now live in all US Office Depot and OfficeMax stores and is integrated into the existing Shazam app, which has more than 100m monthly active users.

“In order for it to connect, first, a customer must activate the Shazam app to identify a song or audio message,” Mood Media explains. “Then, the app will recognise the watermark and deliver the requested song information and the business’ targeted content directly to the customer’s mobile device.”

A video with an embedded Shazam demonstration shows how the service works:

“Proprietary apps for mobile devices are expensive to develop and are often underutilized by customers, but Shazam’s massive user base allows businesses to benefit from a high probability of connecting with customers through that platform,” Mood Media president Ken Eissing adds.

“Office Depot believes in the power of technology and mobile is an extension of our in-store and online shopping experience for customers,” says Emery Skolfield, senior director of digital marketing at Office Depot. “Shazam and Mood Media have provided a new and simple way for us to connect and interact with our customers inside the store.”