97% Find Scanning of Mobile Bar Codes Helpful

More than half of shoppers have used their mobile phone to scan a bar code

More than half of consumers said they have scanned a mobile bar code on a product, according to a poll conducted by Scanbuyacross Twitter and Facebook. Consumers were asked about scanning bar codes as part of their holiday shopping. 97 % said they found bar codes “useful” in some capacity.

When asked about their own scanning behavior, the poll found:

97% of shoppers believe QR Codes are useful. More than half said they scanned a barcode during their holiday shopping.

• 57 % have scanned at least once
• 40 % have scanned five or more times
• 40 % said they have never scanned but would like to

More than half of those surveyed said they would most likely scan a bar code to look up prices online. Some also said they liked being able to scan the item to get more information instead of having to find a sales associate.

Consumers were most interested in scanning a product for:

• Price comparisons
• User reviews
• Specific product offers

How Target Used Bar Code Scanning

This holiday season, Target placed bar codes in its holiday and toy catalog. A QR codeThe codes linked to videos about the hottest toys and gave purchasing tips. Shoppers also had the option of saving the product to a mobile shopping list, which they could access once they were in the store.

UPC and QR Codes Defined

A UPC, Universal Product Code, is specific to a particular item. It is synonymous with barcode. Another, newer format used is a QR Code, which is a matrix barcode and can be read by a scanner or mobile device from any angle.