Mobile barcode scans leap 700% in 9 months
We’re all familiar with regular metrics updates from the mobile technology world – especially mobile advertising. Less common are reports on the mobile barcode industry. But American barcoding firm Scanbuy has released its inaugural Mobile Barcode Trend Report, showing a dramatic increase in the number of scans on its platform this year.
What’s the story?
Scanbuy is probably the most active barcoding company operating in Northern America – it habitually signs up large brands and publishers to barcoding deals. The Mobile Barcode Trend Report is an overview of how often consumers having been scanning codes using Scanbuy, and what those scans have been for from June 1st, 2010 to September 15th, 2010. Bear in mind that this report isn’t representative of the entire industry – it just shows the fortunes of Scanbuy, which is predominantly US-based and smartphone dependent.
How many people are scanning?
The first, and most striking, piece of data from Scanbuy is the extent to which mobile barcode scans have exploded during 2010:

The growth in scans has been such that there were more in July this year than in all of 2009. And that growth seems to be accelerating, as the curve has grown steeper over the last three months.
What are they scanning?
I was very interested to see this section, which hasn’t had much publicity before. What kinds of products bearing mobile-scannable barcodes are attracting users?

What do the scans do?
The most frequent use of barcodes by companies is to link to a URL

Where are they scanning?
Not surprisingly, the majority of Scanbuy scans take place in the USA

America has Scanbuys main customer base, but it reports that 45 countries have scanned over it’s system – at
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