MobileWeb2Go

Youth marketing agency Archival Youth Marketing have conducted a survey of over 500 students on 24 college campuses across the US to find out what they think about QR Codes. Of the students surveyed 81% owned a smartphone and 80% had previously seen a QR code. 21% of the students successfully scanned a QR Code when shown an example and 75% of the students said they are “Not Likely” to scan a QR code in the future. (The infographic below is reproduced with the express permission of Archival)

Dissatisfied consumers could quickly move on to competitors at a time digital sales are one of the few bright spots in holiday retailing, Tack says.

November and December online sales (excluding travel) are expected to grow 16.8% from last year to $46.7 billion, research company eMarketer says.

Nearly half of smartphone and tablet users plan to make holiday purchases with a mobile device this year, according to a study conducted by Ipsos for PayPal.

Why are U.S. retailers slow to adopt NFC payment technology? One reason is the expense and effort required to install NFC-enabled point-of-sale equipment in stores and to integrate it with merchants' systems.

It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg dynamic: Retailers typically don't invest in offering a new payment option until they see widespread consumer demand; but few consumers are likely to prefer a payment option that's not yet widely accepted.

Another Open Mobile Summit panelist, PayPal's VP for mobile, David Marcus, made this point: "Today, retailers learn about customers at the least effective time -- just when they're leaving the store. They'd like to know about you when you arrive at the store, so they can customize your shopping experience and treat you properly."

QR codes have been misused and overused lately, but the fact remains that they are a great way to link the printed world with the digital one. Once a PDF document is printed, all the functionality of its hyperlinks are lost, but a QR code can bring a print reader right back to the web.

Many mobile Web users are mobile-only, i.e. they do not, or very rarely use a desktop, laptop or tablet to access the Web. Even in the US 25 percent of mobile Web users are mobile-only.

US consumers prefer mobile browsers for banking, travel, shopping, local info, news, video, sports and blogs and prefer apps for games, social media, maps and music. 3) Mobile searches have quadrupled in the last year, fo

The most used mobile apps in the US are games; news; maps; social networking and music. Facebook, Google Maps and The Weather Channel (TWC) rule.

If you haven’t yet heard of Apple’s Siri, a feature of the iPhone 4S, you may not be aware of how this new technology could transform Search Engine Optimization, especially on the local level.

What can the tools of sales 2.0 do for your small business? Well, if you or your sales team are already effective, the Web tools offered by Sales 2.0 will likely make you better. But be warned. These tools will not turn a bad sales team into a good one. Proven techniques must exist behind the technology.

Online marketing can be effective even for local business and such a campaign need not be expensive if set up correctly.

SpyderLynk came up with a simple design — a company logo inside a circle with breaks in it — that consumers can photograph with their mobile phones to connect to online promotions.

On a quarterly basis, the number of 2D mobile codes in magazines grew from 252 in Q1 to 1155 in Q3 (up 228%).

While there is still some fragmentation in the market among code types used in magazines, QR codes had a 62% share in Q3 compared to 30% using Microsoft Tags, 4% using SpyderLynk SnapTags, and 3% using JagTag solutions. 

Among brands leveraging codes in Q3, Revlon led the pack with 37, followed by Cuisinart with 26, Garnier with 25, Delta with 20 and John Frieda with 19. 

“43% of online adults said they'd give up beer for a month in exchange for internet access via smartphone.”

In fact, recent research shows consumers prefer mobile browsers for banking, travel, shopping, local info, news, video, sports and blogs and prefer apps for games, social media, maps and music—and that one-in-seven searches now originates from a mobile device.

For mobile, 2012 is the year of measurability.

At one point, QR codes were just looked at as cool and fun.  But now, they are proving to be reliable way to share information. 

1. Front Door or Host/Hostess Area:

2. Foursquare:

Mark Donovan, senior vice president of mobile and senior analyst with comScore, believes that the popularity of QR codes is ramping up because of the increasing popularity of smartphones. “I think that we’re seeing things like QR codes just start to reach critical mass,” said Donovan. “Today, one in three people in the U.S. owns a smartphone. It’s a good and fairly ubiquitous way to reach those people and there’s still some novelty to it, which can be interesting to consumers.”

The main benefit of QR codes is that they make it easy to direct the consumer wherever you want to lead them. Anything businesses can do to engage potential customers will enhance the “stickiness” of that company in a person’s mind. With enough compelling engagement on your part, potential customers just may become lifelong customers.