Mobile barcodes growing strongly in downturn

A new trend is going on in the mobile marketing sector, as businesses start sending text messages to customers that contain a barcode that can be redeemed at a store for discounts and coupons.

Peter Shipman, owner of a casual Mexican restaurant in the US, used the method to draw in students from a local university. He bought ads in the university newspaper to advertise the service, and achieved a 52% redemption rate – about 1% of the student population. 

“You use different media for different applications, and for a grand opening this was appropriate,” Shipman says. He says would use the technology for future events.

A number of vendors are attempting to make the technology mainstream, including US group Jagtag. Instead of users downloading an application to their phone, all a customer has to do is take a picture of a 2-D barcode on a poster or advertisement, send it to a specified number, and then receive a coupon.

Other vendors such as Scanbuy and Clic2C are currently negotiating with US mobile groups Sprint and Alltel to sell handsets with similar code reader technology.

Jonathan Bulkeley, Scanbuy chief executive, told AdA.ge.com that “carriers need to figure out how to make money on navigation, transaction and advertising. On mobile, consumers are going to go directly to what they’re interested in, not go search for it.”