Inside Mobile Marketing

Regarding the use of a QR code reader to help spur impulse shopping. I like the thought, but have a series of thoughts surrounding the consumer adoption challenges.

• 2D code readers, while numerous, are almost non-existent in the U.S. market with regards to being pre-installed on any handsets. There are some high end NOKIA’s such as the N95 that ship with a QR code reader, but the mass majority of handsets sold through the Carriers including those from Blackberry and Apple do not ship with a reader. Now, the good news is that you can download readers for various cameraphones capable of downloading a J2ME application (which is most phones today) including popular smartphones from Blackberry and Apple. (Checkout Scanbuy’s reader for Blackberry’s Pearl and Curve models OR visit your iPhone APP store for their just released iPhone 2D code reader.)
• That said, Polo or rather their advertising agency, is going to have to work pretty hard to educate consumers on what the funny looking black and white codes are for on their print materials. The call-to-action is KEY! Changing consumer behavior is not easy especially when it comes to seemingly complex technical items on the mobile phone. Just getting consumers to download the 2D code reader is a challenge in itself as various industry studies all point to consumers being leery of potential hidden costs when using new mobile applications (e.g. video, mobile web, MMS).
• Polo will also have to spend to drive traffic to their new mobile site just to encourage their viewers to download the QR reader. It will be interesting to see what tactics they employ to get some early adopters to the site - e.g. coupons, dramatic cost savings on advertised products, etc..
• In terms of getting help from Carriers and other big tech companies to drive awareness for 2D codes, I know that Scanbuy was recently involved with SPRINT in a public trial of their reader, but I have not seen any recent news from the other Carriers yet (rest assured they are evaluating the technology because it leads to increased data usage). Google’s Android will include 2D code reader functionality and Microsoft has said in the past it will try to play in this field as well.
• The 2D code market participants are also working to decide on some sort of standards. Currently, because of their prevalence in Japan, QR and Datamatrix code formats are getting a good deal of press. However, companies like Scanbuy, NeoMedia, BeeTagg and Nextcode to name few, have developed their own code formats specifically for use with the Mobile handset. (this is a story for another day ;-). Not all 2D codes readers read ALL codes, so standards are a must for widespread adoption. The MMA is assisting in helping these participants come to some sort for conclusion.

Please note that these aforementioned challenges need to be combined with getting consumers to use their mobile phone just to browse the web and be comfortable making purchases via their credit card on the mobile web - these are NOT easy obstacles to overcome and will take time, but Polo should be commended for jumping into the deep-end head first!