China-based Alibaba Group today launched a new platform named Mashang Tao that enables merchants to create QR codes consumers can scan with a mobile device to make purchases in physical storefronts, online and from print ads appearing on billboards and other areas, according to multiple media reports.

Pepsi and Tsingtao Brewery will be among the first merchants to implement the QR codes, according to NFC World. The companies are putting the codes on 1.4 billion cans as part of a prize sweepstakes.

"Our aim is to broaden the applicability and usability of scannable codes so that users can easily be connected to additional services and content, as well as to create multiple gateways and touchpoints into our ecosystem via any mobile device, any time, anywhere" Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said in NFC World.