Below an example of a “shelftalker” to which I’ve added a QR code. Scanning the code on the example below with your smartphone (using the native “Neoreader” on Android or equivalent on another phone) brings you to the importer’s website where you can learn more about the wine before deciding to buy it.

Wine Shelf Talker

I’ve seen plenty of QR codes on business cards and on adverts and content in the Dublin Metro, a free commuter newspaper. This is just one aspect of “mobile marketing” where the cost of entry is virtually zero. Get online, create your QR codes and use them to drive visitors to you brand.

How, you ask? The QR code on the above shelf-talker was created on Google’s shortening service, goo.gl. Simply take the short URL that you’ve generated at add “.qr” to the end of it. In addition, scan rates should be measurable, via goo.gl’s analytics, which is nice.

How are QR codes “consumed”?

QR codes are scannable using an application and the camera on your smartphone. With whatever app you use, just point your smartphone at the QR code and it should do the rest, loading up the website on your phone’s browser, saving you typing those pesky web addresses on keys which are too small for your fingers.