Combine barcode reader and shop savvy apps?
- Thread starter searayman
- Start date
QR Codes and ShopSavvy
ShopSavvy currently supports QR codes, but only those that contain shopping information (i.e. from the GS1 standard). Those QR codes that contain contact information (i.e. business card data) or redirect to a website (i.e. URL data) are ignored. This is because these uses have nothing to do with shopping. Similarly we ignore shipping barcodes (i.e. FedEx and UPS) because they don't apply to shopping either.
Lots of our users ask why ShopSavvy doesn’t read QR codes. The answer is twofold, a) manufacturers and retailers in the US and Europe don’t use QR codes and b) QR aren’t typically related to product identification. The simple answer is that QR codes don’t have much of anything to with shopping and ShopSavvy is all about shopping. There is no technical reason we can’t scan a QR code – in fact our scanning libraries already scan a QR code. The problem with QR codes is that they usually include a URL or contact info – information that ShopSavvy can’t really use. Let me give you some background.
QR codes are two-dimensional codes (as seen on the right) that were created by a Japanese company called Denso-Wave back in 1994 to track vehicle parts during manufacturing. Unlike one-dimensional barcodes that only contain eight to seventeen digits, QR codes can contain up-to 7,089 numeric characters, 4,296 alphanumeric characters, 2,953 binary bytes or 1,817 Japanese characters. This data storage was VERY important PRIOR to the Internet. QR codes were invented about the same time as the World Wide Web and as a result the value of having an ‘un-connected’ barcode that held significant data became less and less important. Sure QR codes proliferated in manufacturing, supply chain applications and shipping, but outside of Japan and Korea their use in consumer applications has been almost non-existent.
So why aren’t they popular in consumer applications outside of Japan and Korea? Largely because if you can scan a one-dimensional barcode with an internet connect device brands, manufactures, retailers and advertisers have more control. They can provide different information to consumers based on time of day, day of week, season, location of user and so on. With a QR code that must be printed they have no control – whatever data existed at time of printing is the data that will be in the QR code. Why would anyone bother to create a code that couldn’t mean different things for different people? You can’t put a price in the QR code – because prices change. You can’t put product recall data into the QR code – because product recalls happen AFTER printing of product packaging. Of course you CAN insert a URL into a QR code and direct a user to a webpage – but you can do the same with a one-dimensional code and almost 100% of products ALREADY have a 1D code. So why are QR codes big in Japan? I think the primary reason is that they can contain 1,817 Japanese characters (Kanji/Kana). Almost ALL mobile phones in Japan have the capability of reading QR codes. NTT Docomo established the de facto standard for encoding URLs and contact information – all using Kanji/Kana.
When manufacturers begin marking their products with QR codes we WILL include them in our system. For now “0″ manufacturers create QR codes for use in retail supply chains – i.e. as they do for 1D codes. As soon as they do ShopSavvy will allow you to scan a 1D or 2D code (i.e. EAN/QR) an retrieve product information including: price, availability, dimensions, weight, ingredients, social impact and environmental impact. To learn more read GS1’s Mobile Barcodes Position Paper.
ShopSavvy currently supports QR codes, but only those that contain shopping information (i.e. from the GS1 standard). Those QR codes that contain contact information (i.e. business card data) or redirect to a website (i.e. URL data) are ignored. This is because these uses have nothing to do with shopping. Similarly we ignore shipping barcodes (i.e. FedEx and UPS) because they don't apply to shopping either.
Lots of our users ask why ShopSavvy doesn’t read QR codes. The answer is twofold, a) manufacturers and retailers in the US and Europe don’t use QR codes and b) QR aren’t typically related to product identification. The simple answer is that QR codes don’t have much of anything to with shopping and ShopSavvy is all about shopping. There is no technical reason we can’t scan a QR code – in fact our scanning libraries already scan a QR code. The problem with QR codes is that they usually include a URL or contact info – information that ShopSavvy can’t really use. Let me give you some background.
QR codes are two-dimensional codes (as seen on the right) that were created by a Japanese company called Denso-Wave back in 1994 to track vehicle parts during manufacturing. Unlike one-dimensional barcodes that only contain eight to seventeen digits, QR codes can contain up-to 7,089 numeric characters, 4,296 alphanumeric characters, 2,953 binary bytes or 1,817 Japanese characters. This data storage was VERY important PRIOR to the Internet. QR codes were invented about the same time as the World Wide Web and as a result the value of having an ‘un-connected’ barcode that held significant data became less and less important. Sure QR codes proliferated in manufacturing, supply chain applications and shipping, but outside of Japan and Korea their use in consumer applications has been almost non-existent.
So why aren’t they popular in consumer applications outside of Japan and Korea? Largely because if you can scan a one-dimensional barcode with an internet connect device brands, manufactures, retailers and advertisers have more control. They can provide different information to consumers based on time of day, day of week, season, location of user and so on. With a QR code that must be printed they have no control – whatever data existed at time of printing is the data that will be in the QR code. Why would anyone bother to create a code that couldn’t mean different things for different people? You can’t put a price in the QR code – because prices change. You can’t put product recall data into the QR code – because product recalls happen AFTER printing of product packaging. Of course you CAN insert a URL into a QR code and direct a user to a webpage – but you can do the same with a one-dimensional code and almost 100% of products ALREADY have a 1D code. So why are QR codes big in Japan? I think the primary reason is that they can contain 1,817 Japanese characters (Kanji/Kana). Almost ALL mobile phones in Japan have the capability of reading QR codes. NTT Docomo established the de facto standard for encoding URLs and contact information – all using Kanji/Kana.
When manufacturers begin marking their products with QR codes we WILL include them in our system. For now “0″ manufacturers create QR codes for use in retail supply chains – i.e. as they do for 1D codes. As soon as they do ShopSavvy will allow you to scan a 1D or 2D code (i.e. EAN/QR) an retrieve product information including: price, availability, dimensions, weight, ingredients, social impact and environmental impact. To learn more read GS1’s Mobile Barcodes Position Paper.
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