Scanbuy, Inc., the company that created ScanLife, conducted quantitative research that validates that they are moving in the right direction: QR codes are hot in the U.S. market. QR codes have seen high adoption rates in countries like Canada and Hong Kong, and now there is proof that the U.S. market is adopting QR codes at high rates, as well.

The Scanbuy survey was performed through SurveyBuilder at USamp and included a panelist of over 5 million. The survey revealed that everybody sees the potential of QR codes, and size does not matter. Businesses of all sizes are adopting QR codes at high rates. The survey also revealed that there are three prominent reasons for why QR codes are used: To provide additional information about a product, to promote products, and to offer discounts.

The fashion retail industry was among the first to incorporate QR codes into its manufacturing, purchasing, and marketing systems. Ralph Lauren uses the codes to relay detailed product descriptions, and Calvin Klein has replaced young models with the code – in order to uphold its reputation for sexy marketing.

Home Depot and Dicks Sporting Goods have also recognized QR codes to be useful as more and more of their customers are purchasing products from their mobile devices. Warehouse access is easier than ever because of smartphones.

QR codes can be traced back in origin to 1994 with Toyota. Toyota’s innovators started placing QR codes on vehicles to order to keep better track of them during manufacture. Today, QR codes are popping up everywhere: from video games to tee shirts, from magazines to billboards. Some people are stamping the codes onto business cards, and some people are even tattooing the codes on their bodies.

QR codes have been described as “paper-based hyperlinks,” and this is because the majority of them are seen on print-based media, and then captured by phone. Seconds after your phone reads the code, you are then directed to websites, videos and more.  The mobile industry is answering consumer demand by providing more and more phone apps that read QR codes – as well as adjusting security software accordingly.