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The only time I ever used a QR code was at AnDevCon, when a speaker gave a prize to whoever could scan the QR codes on his slides the fastest. It felt gimmicky

The only time I ever used a QR code was at AnDevCon, when a speaker gave a prize to whoever could scan the QR codes on his slides the fastest. It felt gimmicky and silly. I've seen them on movie posters, bags of coffee, and at work, but I've never felt compelled to use them. Has anyone seen a great implementation of QR codes? The big problem for me is, if I want to find out about a movie, product, etc. I want an objective opinion, not a sales pitch. I know whatever is on the end of the QR code probably won't help me, but Googling for movie reviews, product reviews, etc. will.

nirvanatikku 14y ago
The best example of QR codes as far as I have seen is Tesco's efforts to dominate the S. Korean market. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7HnR02kJxY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7HnR02kJxY
edent 14y ago
You are not a representative sample. If you look at the statistics for QR codes, you'll see that they are fairly widely used. I agree that going to a product's QR code for an objective review is silly. But to see, say, a movie trailer or get an instruction manual for a bit of furniture, I think they're very useful.
- sequence7 14y ago
  > You are not a representative sample. If you look at the statistics for QR codes, you'll see that they are fairly widely used. I would be fascinated to see those statistics, please share them.
  - edent 14y ago
    Certainly! Here are stats from the London's bus timetable QR http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/01/real-qr-statistics-from-tfl/ http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/01/real-qr-statistics-from-tfl/ http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/04/tfl-qr-followup-5000-scans-per-month/ http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/04/tfl-qr-followup-5000-scans-p... Here are stats from Tesco (large UK retailer) http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/10/no-one-scans-qr-codes-apart-from-the-thousands-of-people-who-do/ http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/10/no-one-scans-qr-codes-apart-... Finally, some QR stats from the back of a train ticket. http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/12/no-one-scans-qr-codes-apart-from-these-25-thousand-people/ http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/12/no-one-scans-qr-codes-apart-... So, in the UK at least, well designed QR codes get a significant response from "normal" people.
    - zeidrich 14y ago
      Bus time tables, giveaways and product advertisement are normal things that people are interested in. A train ticket with a QR code is going to be sitting in someone's hand on the train while they've got their phone in the other hand. If they are curious about getting a 2012 games ticket, or if they're just bored they might play with this QR reader thing. A salt package however... Maybe you're in a restaurant, do you pull out your phone? Do you hide away the salt package just so you can read the QR code later? This isn't even described, so why do you want to read it? We already have a ubiquitous machine-readable way of identifying things, barcodes. Just because you own a barcode scanner doesn't mean you go around scanning the multitude of barcodes on your stuff. In fact, we get kind of blind to the number of barcodes on everything because they are used on everything and given without context. If QR codes are overused on everything, maybe leading to things as mundane as an infosheet on salt (oh, this is high in sodium, who knew?), or forgotten broken links, they're just going to be ignored except when given appropriate context. Are "normal" people really interested in getting detailed information documenting the unique ID of the salt package they purchased?
    - sequence7 14y ago
      I was rather hoping for some more independent statistics, those links are all to posts on your blogs with your numbers but anyway let's take Tesco for example. Tesco is huge in the UK but let's be very conservative and estimate that they have 10 million customers a month (in reality I expect they have more customers than that in a day) apparently 6000 of those are engaged enough with QR codes to use them which is 0.06%. That's not a very impressive statistic from where I'm sitting.
Jtsummers 14y ago
I don't know about great, but I'm in the market for a new car. When I went to a Subaru dealership they had QR codes on their vehicles which led to a page with stats, videos and other information. I had already researched the vehicles I was looking at, just wanted to see them in person and in various colors, so it wasn't that useful to me that day. However, in the past I've done some window shopping without the prep, would've been nice. EDIT: Wehicles? I need more sleep.
kalleboo 14y ago
I found them useful at bus stops in Japan. Scan it to go straight to the online live timetable listing for the stop you're at showing the current time/date (upcoming 5~10 buses). Sure you could type in a URL and populate a form or search for+install an app, and many stops have expensive digital displays, but this was really quick and easy.

nirvanatikku 14y ago

The best example of QR codes as far as I have seen is Tesco's efforts to dominate the S. Korean market. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7HnR02kJxY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7HnR02kJxY

edent 14y ago

You are not a representative sample. If you look at the statistics for QR codes, you'll see that they are fairly widely used. I agree that going to a product's QR code for an objective review is silly. But to see, say, a movie trailer or get an instruction manual for a bit of furniture, I think they're very useful.

sequence7 14y ago
> You are not a representative sample. If you look at the statistics for QR codes, you'll see that they are fairly widely used. I would be fascinated to see those statistics, please share them.
- edent 14y ago
  Certainly! Here are stats from the London's bus timetable QR http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/01/real-qr-statistics-from-tfl/ http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/01/real-qr-statistics-from-tfl/ http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/04/tfl-qr-followup-5000-scans-per-month/ http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/04/tfl-qr-followup-5000-scans-p... Here are stats from Tesco (large UK retailer) http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/10/no-one-scans-qr-codes-apart-from-the-thousands-of-people-who-do/ http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/10/no-one-scans-qr-codes-apart-... Finally, some QR stats from the back of a train ticket. http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/12/no-one-scans-qr-codes-apart-from-these-25-thousand-people/ http://shkspr.mobi/blog/2012/12/no-one-scans-qr-codes-apart-... So, in the UK at least, well designed QR codes get a significant response from "normal" people.
  - zeidrich 14y ago
    Bus time tables, giveaways and product advertisement are normal things that people are interested in. A train ticket with a QR code is going to be sitting in someone's hand on the train while they've got their phone in the other hand. If they are curious about getting a 2012 games ticket, or if they're just bored they might play with this QR reader thing. A salt package however... Maybe you're in a restaurant, do you pull out your phone? Do you hide away the salt package just so you can read the QR code later? This isn't even described, so why do you want to read it? We already have a ubiquitous machine-readable way of identifying things, barcodes. Just because you own a barcode scanner doesn't mean you go around scanning the multitude of barcodes on your stuff. In fact, we get kind of blind to the number of barcodes on everything because they are used on everything and given without context. If QR codes are overused on everything, maybe leading to things as mundane as an infosheet on salt (oh, this is high in sodium, who knew?), or forgotten broken links, they're just going to be ignored except when given appropriate context. Are "normal" people really interested in getting detailed information documenting the unique ID of the salt package they purchased?
  - sequence7 14y ago
    I was rather hoping for some more independent statistics, those links are all to posts on your blogs with your numbers but anyway let's take Tesco for example. Tesco is huge in the UK but let's be very conservative and estimate that they have 10 million customers a month (in reality I expect they have more customers than that in a day) apparently 6000 of those are engaged enough with QR codes to use them which is 0.06%. That's not a very impressive statistic from where I'm sitting.

Jtsummers 14y ago

I don't know about great, but I'm in the market for a new car. When I went to a Subaru dealership they had QR codes on their vehicles which led to a page with stats, videos and other information. I had already researched the vehicles I was looking at, just wanted to see them in person and in various colors, so it wasn't that useful to me that day. However, in the past I've done some window shopping without the prep, would've been nice. EDIT: Wehicles? I need more sleep.

kalleboo 14y ago

I found them useful at bus stops in Japan. Scan it to go straight to the online live timetable listing for the stop you're at showing the current time/date (upcoming 5~10 buses). Sure you could type in a URL and populate a form or search for+install an app, and many stops have expensive digital displays, but this was really quick and easy.