QR Code Scanners Trending Older; Still Overwhelmingly Male

August 9, 2012

scanbuy-mobile-barcode-scanners-by-age-q42011-q22012-aug2012.pngQ2 saw more than 16 million mobile barcode scans via ScanLife, as more than 4 million consumers came through the ScanLife system for the first time, according to [download page] a new report from Scanbuy. Among mobile barcode scanners, exactly half were aged 35 or older in Q2, representing a 22% increase from 41% share of scanners in Q1 and a 28% increase from 39% in Q4 2011. While a plurality (26%) of barcode scanners were aged 25-34 in Q2, this represents a big drop from 35% in Q1. Instead, those aged 35-44 have grown to 24% share, from 20% in Q1, while the 45-54 set (15% vs. 12%) and 55+ bracket (11% vs. 9%) also represent a growing proportion of barcode scanners.

7 in 10 Scanners Were Male in Q2

69% of mobile barcode scanners were male in Q2, and the gender breakdown has not moved significantly from Q1, when 68% were male. Even so, this is a step up from Q4 2011, when 63% were male, indicating that the trend continues to favor male usage of these barcodes. According to survey results released in February 2012 by BrandSpark International, in association with Better Homes and Gardens, although men and women report equal awareness of QR codes (77%), men who are aware of them are 75% more likely than women to have used one (28% vs. 16%) to access product information.

Contest Campaigns Generate Most Scans

Meanwhile, data from ScanLife’s “Mobile Barcode Trend Report Q2 2012” indicates that the top 5 marketer campaigns that generated the most scans, by content, were: contest; loyalty program; social media; app download; and video. The industries that generated the most scans were: toys; health and beauty; wireless; QSR; and beverage.

Other Findings:

  • The single largest QR code campaign of Q2 generated 2,051,807 scans. By comparison, in Q2 2011, the largest campaign generated 30,016 scans.
  • In Q2 2012, ScanLife saw 120 scans per minute, 5 times as many as in Q2 2011 (24).
  • QR code scanning activity tends to dip during the early morning hours, before picking up steam in the late morning and reaching a peak in the early evening.
  • The QR code scanner mix by platform breaks down as: Android (53%); iOS (43%); Symbian (2%); and Blackberry (2%).

About the Data: The data in the Scanbuy report was pulled from the ScanLife Reporting Platform. It represents traffic from both 2D (QR) Codes and UPC barcodes. The 2D Codes scanned may have been generated on the ScanLife Platform or from 3rd party generators. The 2D barcode scanning traffic may come from either the ScanLife app or 3rd party apps.

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