The second quarter of 2012 showed tremendous popularity for the mobile barcodes.
The latest study regarding the QR code scanning behaviors of smartphone users has revealed that the second quarter of this year was a busy one in the United Kingdom.
The research indicated that well over 3 million British consumers used their mobile devices for a scan.
The survey was conducted by comScore and involved the participation of 15,000 people in the United Kingdom. The results showed that 11.4 percent of the smartphone using population of the country scanned QR codes during that period of time, and that the growth over the same time in 2011 was 43 percent.
However, the data also indicated that the U.K.’s use of QR codes was not as fast as other E.U. countries.
In contrast with the use of the barcodes among British shoppers, German smartphone users were using QR codes at a rate of 18.6 percent within those three months. This was a year over year growth of 128 percent, which is tremendously higher than the rate of growth in the U.K.
Though Spain’s smartphone users were scanning at a rate of 16 percent, their growth was even higher, at a staggering 218 percent more than it had been in Q2 of 2011. This same research predicted that over 17 million smartphone owners in England, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany were scanning during the months of April, May and June, this year.
That said, the rate of use and of growth of the scans of QR codes is nothing to be scoffed at. The square barcodes are now exceptionally common on product packages, in magazine ads, and on outdoor marketing campaigns. Though just over 1 in every 10 smartphone owners in the United Kingdom have scanned the barcodes now, it has been predicted that the numbers will continue to climb as consumers become even more familiar with what the quick response codes are and how they can be used.
This forecast is supported by a recent TolunaQuick survey which was performed last year in October, which determined that the increase in scans at that time of year was 19 percent. It could be that the holiday shopping will have a notably different growth rate which could better reflect the increasing use of QR codes.
