We have talked about our QR Code program before, but I thought it was worth a second post. The adoption of two-dimensional barcodes in marketing and advertising has been hampered by proprietary standards. Too many companies have spent too much time attempting to monetize a very simple, but powerful feature. Ironically, there has always been an alternative, open standard called a Quick Response or QR Code. Anyone can generate a two-dimensional QR Code pointing to any website for free. Additionally, millions of mobile phone users already have QR Code capable readers like ShopSavvy®.

The biggest problem with QR Codes is that American consumers don’t know what a 2D barcode is. They need some help understanding how to react to a QR Code printed on a billboard or in a magazine advertisement. Our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ program was designed to solve this problem. Millions of ShopSavvy users already use the application to scan 1D barcodes, but many of them have no idea that ShopSavvy will scan open standard 2D barcodes (i.e. QR Code), but they do understand the concept of scanning.

Our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ program allows brands to leverage our ‘trained’ user base by including our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ badge anywhere they print a 2D barcode. Consumers can use ANY QR-capable scanner (50+ today), but the program attempts to short circuit the call to action by showing the user he can use an application he already has on his smartphone.

The program is free for almost all brands. Our goal is to promote QR Codes, ShopSavvy and build great relationships with brands. Interested? Brands simply need to email sales@biggu.com and explain the planned usage of our badge prior to use. Permission will be granted to almost all brands. Camera-ready art of the badge is available for download:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/109866/scanwithshopsavvy.zip

Basic tracking is included for FREE as part of the QR code generator and includes:

• Total click tracking
• Click tracking (today, past week, past month, total)
• Referrer tracking (today, past week, past month, total)
• Location tracking (today, past week, past month, total)
• Conversation tracking (number of tweets, shares, comments)

Enhanced programs area available including geo-targeted content. Use the consumers location as a trigger for alternative content. Show a user in a specific store or city a different experience. Please contact our sales department for more information.

Earlier this month ShopSavvy® began supporting QR Codes AKA 2D barcodes.  ShopSavvy supports standard QR Code instructions including URL redirection, Phone Dialing, SMS Messaging and Contact Addition.  Retailers, brands and advertisers can leverage ShopSavvy’s name recognition and installed base of users (more than 4.5 million as of January 2010) in their QR Code promotions and marketing.  This is a FREE program designed as a win-win for marketers and ShopSavvy.

Simply overlay the ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ badge on top of any QR Code and ShopSavvy users will be alerted that they can scan the code.  Users who don’t have a reader are instructed to download our reader (for free) from the shopsavvy.mobi website.  To use the ShopSavvy name and graphic you must receive permission (via email) which will not be unreasonably withheld (generally we just want to try to up-sell you).  Just let us know how you plan to use our graphic and name and send it to sales@biggu.com.

While consumers will be able to leverage ShopSavvy they will ALSO be able to use ANY barcode scanner than supports QR Codes.  LOTS of phones have the ability to scan 2D codes natively – your QR promotion will work on any of these devices unlike proprietary barcodes.

Options

• custom download link, i.e. brand.com/shopsavvy (links to custom version of ShopSavvy with brand’s messaging in footer – 320×36px)
• location aware QR Codes, i.e. we can report GPS (lat/long) to advertiser for each scan.
• custom 1D programs, i.e. proprietary UPC/EAN codes linked to your actions (for agencies who wish to keep their programs proprietary).
• custom art, i.e. on white, on black or in color.

DOWNLOAD ART HERE

Last week we announced QR Code scanning support for ShopSavvy (3.6 on Android) and got a lot of attention at the CES show.  About an hour ago my dad posted a question to my Facebook page asking, “Ok, what is a QR code?”  I guess most of you have no idea what a QR Code is or why it might be helpful to have ShopSavvy scan the code.  I will try to help.

QR codes are two-dimensional codes (as seen on the right) that were created by a Japanese company called Denso-Wave back in 1994 to track vehicle parts during manufacturing.  Unlike one-dimensional barcodes that only contain eight to seventeen digits, QR codes can contain up-to 7,089 numeric characters, 4,296 alphanumeric characters, 2,953 binary bytes or 1,817 Japanese characters.  This data storage was VERY important PRIOR to the Internet.  QR codes were invented about the same time as the World Wide Web and as a result the value of having an ‘un-connected’ barcode that held significant data became less and less important.  Sure QR codes proliferated in manufacturing, supply chain applications and shipping, but outside of Japan and Korea their use in consumer applications has been almost non-existent.

So why aren’t they popular in consumer applications outside of Japan and Korea?  Largely because if you can scan a one-dimensional barcode with an internet connect device brands, manufactures, retailers and advertisers have more control.  They can provide different information to consumers based on time of day, day of week, season, location of user and so on.  With a QR code that must be printed they have no control – whatever data existed at time of printing is the data that will be in the QR code.  Why would anyone bother to create a code that couldn’t mean different things for different people?  You can’t put a price in the QR code – because prices change.  You can’t put product recall data into the QR code – because product recalls happen AFTER printing of product packaging.  Of course you CAN insert a URL into a QR code and direct a user to a webpage – but you can do the same with a one-dimensional code and almost 100% of products ALREADY have a 1D code. So why are QR codes big in Japan?  I think the primary reason is that they can contain 1,817 Japanese characters (Kanji/Kana).  Almost ALL mobile phones in Japan have the capability of reading QR codes.  NTT Docomo established the de facto standard for encoding URLs and contact information – all using Kanji/Kana.

Previously I have written about why we didn’t support QR codes.  Recently Google announced their Google Favorite Places program whereby Google mailed QR code window stickers to something like 190,000 local retailers.  These QR codes are tied to Google local search feature and allows the retailer to include coupons and special offers to users who scan the codes.  In light of this new feature and its connection to retail shopping we decided it was time to support QR code scanning.  ShopSavvy will now scan all 1D and 2D barcodes.  Try scanning the code to the right (it is my contact info) and feel free to let me know how you like the new changes in ShopSavvy for Android (iPhone QR scanning support coming later this month).