With so much information at their fingertips, customers can easily turn a retail store into a showroom to let them see the things they'll go buy elsewhere or online.
"Marketing was all about getting the person to enter the store before," said Mr. Mason. "If you got them in there, you did your job.
"Now you have to keep them in there."
A Best Buy QR code for a Samsung 1,000-watt, 3-D home theater system (on clearance $609.99) took the smartphone user to more detail, including customer reviews that showed 16 of 23 reviewers would recommend it to a friend. There was "great unit for the price" as well as "horrible ... just horrible."
Mark Staub, a store interactive technology specialist at the Best Buy in North Fayette, said some customers were confident in their use of the codes and preferred doing their own thing. Others ask what the codes are. That allows staffers to pull out their iPod Touches and demonstrate -- and show off the mobile devices that the store sells.
At the GNC store at Ross Park, an employee was able to point to the far back corner where the MRI NO2 Red supplement ($69.99 for 150 caplets, $55.99 for members) had a familiar mottled code on its shelf sign. A quick scan brought up a text sales pitch on the excellence of the product as well as an offer for a $5 off coupon and for a free sample.
At the moment, though, QR codes aren't accessible to many shoppers. And even those with smartphones may not be tuning in. Mr. Mason noted that while Android versions of cellphones come with a QR code reader installed, the iPhone does not. But there's an app for that. Read More
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