1. A method of initiating a transaction via a portable device comprising the steps of: receiving electronically captured image data via the portable device, the image data comprising a digital representation of an imaged product; deriving, by an image processing platform, image characteristics from the image data; recognizing the imaged product as a target purchasable object by using at least one of the image characteristics to identify at least one target object via an object database, where the object database comprises characteristics of target objects and associated object information; associating a transaction with the target object based on object information corresponding to the at least one target object; and configuring a terminal device to initiate the transaction.