March 28, 2024

HSN Tests Onscreen QR Codes to Encourage Sales

The network on Friday began running so-called QR codes, patterned data squares similar to bar codes, on its high-definition channel. The codes, featured on the corner of the screen, correspond to products for sale. A scan brings the shopper to a product page on HSN’s mobile Web site or its app, where there is an easy link to the checkout page.

Shoppers have for some time been able to scan QR codes in magazine ads or store windows, but HSN says this is a first for television. If viewers take to the HSN experiment, which runs through Monday, the network said a scan-to-buy feature — where a scan of the onscreen QR code would put the product directly in the viewer’s shopping cart — could be next.

Market research shows that many people do not use QR codes, but some retailers see them as a potentially lucrative form of marketing. Brands like Ralph Lauren, Rachel Zoe and Original Penguin have begun adding icons and color to the traditionally black-and-white codes in an effort to make them more engaging and distinctive. And HSN said this weekend’s experiment was mostly about educating its viewers about the codes, so they could be used more fully in the future.

“I’m sure consumers are seeing these QR codes, and we’re actually going to explain to people how to download a QR reader, how to scan it,” said Jill Braff, the network’s executive vice president for digital commerce.

Some marketing experts are not sold on the effort. Andrew Grill, chief executive of United Kingdom operations for PeopleBrowsr, a social-marketing firm, said there were alternatives to the QR code — like a shortened URL address for a product — that would be less demanding on the shopper, television or otherwise.

“My fear is that it is simply too complicated for consumers to bother with,” Mr. Grill said in an e-mail. “There are multiple steps between seeing and recognizing a QR code, finding a suitable reader on an app store or Web site, installing it, then redeeming a code.”

The enthusiasm for the QR codes stems in part from their versatility. Unlike the grocery-store bar code, the pattern of squares can be read both vertically and horizontally, so they can be packed with a lot more information. When smartphones became ubiquitous, and free QR code-scanning apps became available, marketers began running QR codes in ads and offering something in return for a scan — exclusive photos or a prize entry.

Still, only 6.2 percent of mobile users in the United States scanned a QR code in June, according to the tracking firm comScore. And the type of person scanning was most likely to be young and male — great if you’re selling shaving cream or headphones, less so if it’s luxury women’s clothing.

Now, though, marketers are trying to make the codes more widely appealing and convenient to use.

At HSN, the company knew that many viewers were buying products by using the Web browser on their mobile phones rather than calling the television network. That got company officials thinking, Ms. Braff said.

“They are watching us on TV and using a mobile device as a faster, more convenient means of checkout,” she said. “We thought about what if we married the two — what if we allowed people to scan a QR code during a product demonstration, which would bring them directly to that product page on the mobile device?”

The network began the four-day experiment as part of its technology-themed weekend. HSN is running the codes only on its high-definition channel, because the resolution on the standard channel is not good enough for a scan.

While HSN is taking the codes to television, brands like Ralph Lauren and Rachel Zoe are making the printed codes a little better looking by adding icons and color to them.

“They don’t have to be ugly and generic anymore — they can be cool,” said Matt McKenna, president and founder of Red Fish Media, which has created customized QR codes for a number of brands. “I can’t allow my customers to put a black-and-white bar code that looks like digital noise on something that someone’s spending millions of dollars on to look beautiful.”

During New York Fashion Week, a Rachel Zoe QR code had a little platform shoe inserted into it, while a Ralph Lauren QR code that was used in store windows recently showed the company’s iconic horse-riding polo player.

When scanned, the Rachel Zoe code took viewers to exclusive behind-the-scenes pictures, while the Ralph Lauren code sent them to a mobile site where they could win clothes and United States Open tickets.

Perry Ellis began using standard QR codes about two years ago for its brands CC California and Original Penguin, both of which go after a younger crowd, said Michelle Magallon, vice president for digital commerce at Perry Ellis International. Shoppers could scan the codes in order to receive the brands’ text messages about sales or new items.

In the summer, when the brands began running custom QR codes, she said, the codes started to serve another purpose: now the codes themselves were ads.

Still, Mr. Grill said the basic problem with the codes — they are hard to understand and to use — remained.

“Until technologies such as QR code readers are completely integrated into a mobile phone’s hardware, then my view is that adoption will be slow,” Mr. Grill said.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=a77ca62d58a3acbe987e30ad12c31be8