It seems that lately, there are bar codes everywhere.I mean extra barcodes. Ones that are in addition to the one that the store clerk scans when you go through the till. Maybe I have been looking for them, or maybe they are just becoming more and more common, but regardless, they are there.
Last year, I went to a conference where I saw the social scientist Bob Johansen speak. For those who haven't heard of Johansen, he is a ten-year forecaster who has outlived his forecasts more than three times over. So essentially, his success speaks for his ability. That reason in itself is why community planners, businesses and government officials attend his workshops, read his books and take his words at conference proceedings as food for thought.
It was during his workshop that I first heard about cloud computing. It was then that I found out just how far behind Silicon Valley the world really is in terms of technology advancements. And it was then that I first heard about barcode marketing.
I remember Johansen saying that in a few years, one would be able to enter a grocery store, walk down the aisle, scan a mobile barcode on a product with their phone, and discover the nutritional information. Not only that, but they would be able to see the amount of energy consumed to produce the product, where the ingredients for the product came from, and where the product was packaged.
Since then, I have started noticing bar codes slowly popping up around me. And in the past couple of months, I have noticed that they are really starting to pop up.
Driving by a house for sale, it is common to see them on the real estate sign. Flip over a business card nowadays and chances are that a barcode exists. Walking into an airplane in today's day-and-age means that these codes serve as your boarding pass. Walking by a business, you can scan the code in the window to discover their hours of operation, receive a message from the store owner or see a listing of their specials.
From bar codes on shopping catalogues that provide details on specific products to barcodes on event posters that provide additional information for the consumer longing for more, these 'extra' bar codes are becoming increasingly common. They can be seen on billboards, online, product packaging or anything really. And their usage makes sense when you know what they are.
These 'extra' bar codes are actually known as QR codes or 'quick response' codes. They are considered a 2D barcode that can store a lot of information on them, more than 7,000 numeric characters to be exact. They can be scanned from any angle and are designed for both businesses and consumers. For the consumer, they easily allow for additional information that would not normally be available in marketing campaigns to be readily available at the swipe of their phone. For the business, the codes provide instant information to the consumer, a requirement in an increasingly instant world. Consumers are increasingly experiencing the world through their phone and these mobile bar codes, or rather QR codes, have been developed to meet that need.
Essentially, the options for the QR codes are endless. They are designed to make exchanging information easier than manually entering it in or searching for it online. In order to take advantage of one of these QR codes, a Smartphone that comes complete with a camera and the software required to interpret the code is necessary. And as long as you have the technology required, all it takes is one quick swipe.
As for the future, experts say that this is only the beginning. The only change we will see from this point forward will be a rise in the number of QR codes throughout the world. Phone companies are already installing the software into their Smartphones and businesses are taking advantage of this cheap form of advertising. So while last year, Johansen's proposed 'future of swiping grocery items for nutritional value' may have seemed far away, the prospect of shopping with phone-in-hand seems to get closer and closer each and every day.
