As the calendar year comes to a close, ‘tis the season for “top trends” blog posts, where those in the know pontificate on the year’s picks and pans.  I especially enjoyed RedWriteWeb’s “Top Trends of 2010: Social Shopping ,” however, not because I’m a convert of social shopping, but I’m intrigued with bar code scanning, which this post highlighted.  The post mentioned two apps -  Red Laser (eBay) and Amazon Mobile.  I’ve been intrigued by bar codes for a while (my May 2009 post), and decided to follow up on the developments. 

In my “read me” file is the Forrester Research report, “2D Bar Codes: Learn Why There’s No Urgency,” by Julie Ask; so in preparation for this post, I dug into it.  Julie’s take away was, “invest modestly and experiment broadly.”   Her report was a good primer on this technology, mixed with a little Forrester WAVE vendor review, and a sprinkling of marketing applications for bar codes. 

The other report that I really like was mentioned in the ReadWriteWeb post - some primary research commissioned by Scan Life, a leader in this space.  The amazing takeaway – “the use of bar code scanners is up 700% in 2010.”  A few other key take aways from this report :

• Strong user interest in the overall concept of getting more information from the physical world – regardless of the code format.
• Two most popular categories are from every day products that one would find in their kitchen or bathroom.
• People are actually purchasing these items through the mobile device, although the books and electronics categories show higher sales conversion rates.
• The “long tail” of product types is significant showing that people are finding ways to scan virtually anything with a UPC code.
• The technology is widely relevant across age and income groups - half of the users are currently in the 35-54 group which is partly reflected by smart phone usage, males are over-indexing at this point which mainly reflects an early adopter group and those that are more likely to utilize mobile apps.

Since I don’t market a product that would be consumed in a kitchen/bathroom or books/electronics, I started thinking of other applications for bar codes, beyond social shopping. I few of my thoughts:

1. Greater level of engagement:  As Julie mentioned in her report, the amount on information that can be printed on product labeling and packaging is finite, however, the bar code to direct a user to a Web site offers an ability to give more product information, and even offer product usage, directions, and demonstrations.  No more having to remember how the sales person instructed you to put something together! 
   
   
2. Cross-selling and up-selling - the virtual, “want fries with that?”:   No more buying the product and getting home only to realize you don’t have the right tools, accessories, cables, etc. 
   
   
3. Beyond point-of-purchase:  How many times have you been away from your computer and see something that you want to remember later?  If you’re like me – lots!  (I have more random pictures of products on my phone that I want to remember to read about/look at later.)  The bar code holds promise for a “bookmark” function – scan the bar code and “save” the information for studying later.
   
   
4. "Follow" and "Like" offline:  The bar code allows offline marketers to extend social marketing to products/services consumed offline.  I've been meaning to follow my favorite lunch spot, Zoup, but never remember after I leave.  I especially like that the Scan Life report closed with this invite:

 

Hence, as 2011 planning is quickly upon us, I’m going to continue following the developments of using bar codes in marketing and resolve in 2011 to follow Julie’s advice and beta test a bar code program!