Conclusion

The industries and uses discussed in this report suggest that 2D barcode technology can be used in a wide range of scenarios. However, it is apparent that the most natural use would be in business-to-consumer transactions.

Such technology is extremely useful for marketers and creates a bridge between the physical and online worlds that they can exploit to their benefit.

This does not however limit or constrain the technhology's potential. The scenarios presented within this report for other transaction types (B2B, C2B, C2C and eGov) highlight that the flexibility, size, data capacity and ease of adoption can prove to be useful outside of B2C transactions.

It is envisaged that the increasing influence of user generated content and convergence of the physical and virtual domains will only create more opportunities for 2D barcodes to be deployed in innovative ways.

The number of camera equipped mobile phones in-use today has created a market waiting to be tapped. 2D barcodes could prove to be one way to unlock this market's potential.

B2B

The original conception of 2D barcodes was a commercial application within the car manufacturing supply chain. The Denso-Wave Corporation of Japan created the QR Code format as a means of tracking individual car parts from point of manufacture through to assembly.

The value driver for this mode of operation was the density of data that allowed the compression of parts information to be stamped on to the increasing smaller car parts.

From the car parts supply chain to the B2B value chain, 2D barcodes can be applied to address efficiency and effectiveness challenges of today's business environment.

One example use is Product Identification Data.