Consumers who use QR/2D barcodes are three times more likely to research products for purchase than those who don’t, according to a new report by Forrester analyst Thomas Husson.

And while QR/2D bar code usage does remain low – monthly usage among European smartphone owners is below 25 per cent – it has grown tremendously in the past year, with one barcode platform provider reporting a 64 per cent year-on-year increase in total scans in Q4 2012.

In the report, Husson predicts that, despite poor execution, barcode utilization will continue to accelerate and will soon redefine the relationship between brands and consumers. He outlines the changes in customer expectations as well as how marketers can best take advantage of the new technology in order to develop positive corporate brand perceptions and increase consumer engagement by extending product experiences.

“In the long term – at least for another five to 10 years – 1D and 2D barcode technologies will link together the entire logistics chain, the payment systems at the point of sale, and branded catalogue products. This phenomenon will raise new questions: Who is legally responsible for the information provided digitally via extended packaging technologies, the brand or the retailer? Beyond the legal issues, we expect new mobile technologies to redefine the governance between brands and

retailers,” writes Husson.
The report includes examples of how large brands such as Coca Cola, McDonalds, Nestlé, HP and Heinz leverage QR codes to develop positive corporate brand perceptions and engage with consumers by extending product experiences. It draws on data from a recent Forrester survey of more than 13,000 consumers across the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Sweden. Other data points from the report include:

• Barcode reader apps are more popular among iPhone (39 per cent installed) and Android (33 per cent) users than other European smartphone users (27 per cent).
• Barcode reader apps are most popular among smartphone owners in Germany (32 per cent have installed an app), the Netherlands (31 per cent), and Spain (30 per cent).
• 60 per cent of codes are scanned at home, creating great opportunities for post-sale engagement with customers