How can QR code technology change today’s Agribusiness industry?
With the increase in the use of smartphones and the fast internet speed, the use of black and white squares, commonly referred to as QR (Quick Response) code, has recently gained a lot of popularity all around the world. From January 2021 to January 2022, globally the number of internet users has increased by 4% and about 92.1% of device ownership belongs to mobile phone users. As a result of these factors, it has led to the massive adoption of QR Codes. QR codes today have completely revolutionised the digital payment system. Hence, it can be found everywhere-from product packaging to the mom and pop shops, supermarkets, grocery stores, restaurants, chiya pasal, and a variety of other places. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the potential of its transmission, there has been a fear of using physical money, which has encouraged people to use digital payment methods. Today, we can observe that many consumers choose digital platforms for online financial transactions, such as e-wallets, mobile banking, and a variety of other payment service providers and platforms.
However, QR codes can be used for more than just for making payments. They are commonly used by businesses to provide access to additional information about their products or services. QR codes have become so widespread and prevalent that they are now widely used for a variety of purposes in every industry and the agricultural industry is no exception. QR codes can be used in a variety of ways in agriculture to improve product experience and authenticity by being more flexible and transparent in giving customers the rightful and value-added information about the agricultural products they consume.
Here are some of the ways how QR codes can help agri-businesses.
Quick, easy and convenient to use
Scanning a QR code gives the consumer access to online resources considerably faster, easier, and more conveniently. If the users don’t have access to the QR code through their smartphone, the only access that they have to online information is through URLs. But typing a URL on a smartphone consumes a lot of time and is inconvenient as users are more likely to make mistakes while typing. Scanning a QR Code, on the other hand, is a faster and less error-prone approach.
Help agro-enterprises build trust with their end-consumers
QR codes have been used widely to track events such as receiving precise supply chain information, the agro-inputs utilised, harvesting details, and processing details, among many other things. QR codes in crops and other agro-products like wheat, rice, and vegetables can be used to track crop history and establish provenance along the supply chain. The QR codes when used in labels of agro-products can be used by consumers to acquire detailed supply chain information including the agro-inputs used, harvesting details, processing details etc. This helps the enterprises be transparent and build trust with their consumers.
Direct users to their website
Businesses most commonly use QR codes to lead customers to their website. As the consumers scan the QR code, they will be directed towards the company website where they may learn about the products, explore the overall agricultural production process, farm management, and get a list of agricultural goods produced and available at a specific location. Consumers can also look around and join up for newsletters, or they may be able to get a discount on any goods. There could be millions of possibilities for consumers to find on the website, all of which will aid the businesses in generating leads.
Provide valuable information
QR codes are the most effective way to communicate with your customers. Today, businesses are placing a QR code everywhere and in everything possible to connect with the consumers. Not only in brochures and other marketing materials, QR code can also be placed in the rice, pulses, millet, soybean, wheat, sugar etc. packets to provide valuable information to the customers.
Increase the number of people who follow on social media
Social media is a powerful tool for connecting with customers and expanding the market reach. The majority of individuals only buy goods after conducting research and visiting the social media platforms of a product or company. A social media QR code will help develop brand identity, grow social media following, and leave a social footprint on your agribusiness, allowing you to maximise your visibility and reach with your targeted customers. When the customer scans the social media QR code, it automatically displays all of the business profiles, apps, and other business related resources on their smartphone which eliminates the need for customers to search for the social media profiles individually.
As the number of QR code users is growing every day, a significant number of agro-businesses are recognizing and understanding the value of using them. Both agro-businesses and consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the technology's potential and functionality, and are sure that QR Codes are here to stay.
Sources:
https://scanova.io/blog/qr-code-statistics/
https://www.qrcode-tiger.com/qr-codes-in-agricultural-marketing
https://scanova.io/blog/blog/2016/02/16/advantages-of-qr-code/