ShareThisAt first glance, a QR code looks like some sort of abstract art. The black and white squiggly lines don't look like the next big thing in marketing and advertising.
But suddenly the symbols seem to be everywhere -- in store windows, on printed advertisements, business cards and Realtors' signs outside homes for sale.
They're easy to overlook. But those in the know are using and exploring this next generation of bar codes.
Short for "quick response codes," QR codes are scanned with a smart-phone camera rather than at a cash register. The squiggles connect your phone immediately to additional information about the business -- a website, a video or an interactive map, for instance.
Scan the code on a movie poster, and it may take you to the movie trailer. Scan a code at the Gap, and you're taken to a website about Gap jeans.
For the record: QR date to the 1990s, but with the proliferation of smart phones, their use has exploded. As awareness spreads, businesses and marketers are racing to figure out how to use the codes to attract shoppers.
QR code usage is "growing very rapidly," said Mike Wehrs, president of Scanbuy, a New York company and a leader in QR code development and management. "... It's not something where you'd say people don't know what's going on. But it's not 100 percent out there yet, either."
Scanbuy's data shows that QR code generation and usage has increased by 700 percent since January, with the number of scans in the United States increasing from 1,000 to 1,500 a day to 35,000 to 40,000 a day.
Best Buy has invested heavily in increasing the availability of QR codes. In May, the electronics retailer chain ran a QR code in a weekly sales flier that linked to a promotional trailer for the new Super Mario Galaxy 2 video game. It began adding the QR codes to product tags in August and is now seeing about 3,000 scans per day from stores.
Scanning the code takes customers to a website with more product information and consumer reviews.
"It kind of gives you a central connection for Best Buy between the physical world and all that's possible in the digital world," said Ben Hedrington, Best Buy's director of connected digital solutions.
Other companies and businesses are experimenting with QR codes.
Delta Airlines is using QR codes in conjunction with its iPhone app to let customers check in for flights in almost 30 airports by showing a QR code on their phone, rather than presenting a paper boarding pass.
Real-estate agents such as Re/Max Realtor Beth McKinney are using QR codes to direct passers-by to listing information.
"Our Y generation is extremely techy," said McKinney, of Cary, N.C. Young prospective buyers "don't even pull fliers out of the boxes by houses anymore. They just type it into Google or go right to the website. So each one of my listings has a QR code."
The biggest drawback to using QR codes is that they require a smart phone.
An estimated 25 percent to 33 percent of the U.S. population owns a smart phone, said Michael Becker, North America Managing Director for the Mobile Marketing Association.
Depending on the phone, users may have to download a QR code reader or an app, though newer phones may have one pre-installed.
The possibilities run much deeper for QR codes and the broader category of 2D codes, said Becker of the Mobile Marketing Association. Almost 40 kinds of codes are being used to enable all kinds of new technologies.
Stores could use codes to offer coupons, put your loyalty card information on your smart phone and provide contact information and a map with one scan.
Companies offering Wi-Fi could embed the log-in and password information into a code scanned at the register to make sure the people using their network are actually business patrons. QR codes could convey information about events, sign up people for e-mail lists or trigger an automatic text message to a specified number.
Others are exploring options in different fields. McKinney, the real estate agent, made a QR code that takes the user to information about her husband's heart condition. She attached the code to his driver's license so that medical professionals can access his medical records in an emergency.
"At some point," Becker said, QR codes "will be commonplace."
(Reach The News & Observer's Sue Stock at sue.stock(at)newsobserver.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com)
Must credit The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C.
