Unless you haven’t been paying much attention to the media lately, you’ve no doubt noticed those rather odd-looking, shape-filled squares that have been appearing in print ads and elsewhere. But far from being some type of newfangled design element, these squares—commonly called “QR codes”–are among the next big thing in customer marketing and branding for U.S. businesses, retail stores and restaurants included. How so? With a simple snap of a smartphone, they instantly send valuable information to potential and existing customers—making, for some establishments, the difference between garnering the sale and sacrificing it to a competitor.

“QR” is short for “quick response”, and QR codes are, in basic terms, two-dimensional bar codes that closely resemble the ones to which we’ve all become accustomed. However, QR codes pack so much more power than their simpler bar code “cousins”. The tiny shapes inside QR codes can be read both horizontally and vertically, meaning that when activated, they can launch complex actions, such as opening a web page, downloading a video or sending a text message. They are a way to provide instant information, integrate print and multimedia capabilities, capture data on the spot and otherwise engage customers via increasingly popular mobile technology.

Think QR codes won’t catch on completely, or that they’re a fad? Think again. For one thing, consumers now demand information to the extent that they are scouring online reviews and product descriptions before they even head out to the store. And they want even more of the “411”:  In a 2010 study, Latitude, a Massachusetts consulting firm that researches how new information and communications technologies can be used to improve consumer experiences, found that  that 56 percent of shoppers wanted more product information, such as food origins and ingredients, from the stores they frequent, and 30 percent of the respondents wanted that information delivered to their mobile phone.

What’s more, QR codes are indeed going mainstream, as are smartphones. Data released by Scanbuy, a QR code development and management company,  shows that QR code generation and usage has increased by 700 percent since January 2009, with the number of scans in the U.S. increasing from around 1,000 a day to more than 35,000 a day. According to a comScore MobiLens study released last July, one in four Americans now owns a smartphone, and smartphone adoption is on an uptick. The Nielsen Company offers similar statistics, noting that as of the third quarter of 2010, 28 percent of U.S. mobile users had smartphones, and of people who acquired a new cell phone in the prior six months, 41 percent chose a smartphone. Nielsen predicts that by the end of 2011, there will be more smartphones in the U.S. market than standard-feature phones. Smartphone penetration is highest among persons age 25 to 34, with the second-highest group being age 35 to 44.

In the next installment of this blog, pcAmerica will offer techniques for tapping into the power of QR codes. But in the meantime, take a quick look at www.pcamerica.com to learn how point of sale technology can also help you do a better job of marketing to customers.