QR codes disappoint Westland Peppers in the Netherlands

qr codes on fruit produce

The low response that they achieved from their barcode campaign for consumers let them down.

Fresh produce companies have been rapidly implementing campaigns where they use QR codes on their marketing and directly on their product packages and stickers, to encourage consumers to learn more about where their food comes from, how it can be used, stored, and prepared, and why it is a part of a nutritious diet.

However, while other companies have enjoyed positive results, Westland Peppers does not consider themselves among them.

The company, located in Holland with offices in De Lier and in Gravenzande, was among the fresh produce businesses that were turning to mobile marketing and social media to try to reach their prospective customers. Westland Peppers grows a wide variety of different kinds of peppers and chilies.

qr codes on fruit produceThough the company has enjoyed online promotion successes, they were disappointed with QR codes.

This company is already very active online and in social media, over a number of different channels. According to one of the Westland Peppers co-owners, Pieter Boekestijn, they already communicate with their customers over Facebook and Twitter, as well as their website and their blog.

As they have been keeping up with this type of technology, it didn’t take them long to discover QR codes and that other companies in their sector were using them to considerable success. Not long after that point, the packaging for the company’s products featured one of these barcodes, which, when scanned, gave consumers the opportunity to read helpful news and homemade recipes with cooking videos

The use of the QR codes we exclusively for promotional purposes. They wanted to be able to monitor the ways in which people were taking advantage of what these barcodes had to offer. Unfortunately, they determined that the actual performance was “A bit of a disappointment,” according to Boekestijn.

The suspicion of the grower is that QR codes are most frequently scanned by men, but it is women who most frequently do the grocery shopping and are their primary target market. They are also not entirely convinced that the technology has come into its own quite yet.

Leave a Comment


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.