How QR Codes on Product Packaging Can Help You Stand Out in the Produce Aisle

Highline, the largest mushroom producer in North America, uses QR Codes powered by Qfuse to win the “produce section battle” and engage customers.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) October 10, 2012

From – http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/10/prweb9981175.htm

In the produce aisle of the local supermarket, most shoppers just see fruits and vegetables.

Not the marketing team at Highline Mushrooms.

To Highline, the largest mushroom producer in North America, the produce section is a battleground for customers—and a highly competitive one. After all, most mushrooms look pretty much alike.

To win this “produce section battle,” Highline recently took a new approach. They started by looking at their packaging, and asking a few critical questions: What if that tiny label could show that the mushrooms inside came from a 50-year-old family farm totally committed to pesticide-free growing? And what if it could offer a customer something that led them to think beyond their shopping list and toss a box into their cart?

Finding opportunity with mobile

Regulations prevented the Highline team from doing much to augment their packaging graphically. But then they thought of a better idea: connecting in-store shoppers with the Highline brand through their smartphones. The team envisioned QR codes on every package that linked to an intuitive mobile site, influencing shoppers as they made their final decisions on what to buy.

“It’s hard to get people to change their routine, especially when it comes to what and how they cook” notes Jane Rhyno, Director of Sales and Marketing for Highline. “That’s why reaching them right at the point of sale is huge.”

Highline focused their mobile experience on recipes. They sought to provide shoppers new ideas for things to try, complete with beautiful photography and user comments, all right there in the store. Naturally, the recipes would feature Highline Mushrooms.

“The recipes show how much you can do with mushrooms, and the mobile site gives them an evocative, interactive experience right while they stand in the store,” Rhyno notes.

Choosing a partner to ensure success

Their vision in place, Highline turned its attention to finding a provider who could work within its budget and deliver both the QR technology and a high-performing mobile site.

“We wanted to get up and running right away with this idea, but we didn’t have the staff or the resources for a big undertaking,” Rhyno notes. “What really sold us on Qfuse was the simplicity of it all, and the fact they provided the QR implementation, the site design, and the analytics.”

The move paid off. Just three months since launching the recipe campaign, shoppers have scanned Highline’s most popular mushroom, the Whole White, more than 2,250 times and begun to actively engage with the featured recipes. The results to date strengthen Highline’s commitment to the connected media approach.

“You have to think long-term with this type of thing,” she notes. “Many people are just starting to ‘get’ QR codes. We see it as the most cost-effective way to reach customers at the point of sale now, and as something that will only continue to grow as our customers get more familiar with the technology.”

Posted in QR Codes |

Create a QR Code vCard with Qfuse

Make it Easy to Add Your Info to Mobile Contact Lists—including iPhone

Are you struggling to link to a vCard from a QR Code? In the online and business world vCards are an incredibly useful tool. You may recall in days gone by everyone and their mother was adding them as attachments to every email (for better or worse). While this may have been met with mixed results, today people carry their entire rolodex in their pocket so the need to get your info into their contact list as quickly as possible is essential. So the need exists to create a simple, one-click solution for adding your contact info into their phone. That method is the vCard—which is simply an electronic file which stores all your personal info like name, phone, email, website(s), even a photo.

Unfortunately despite their record for making life easy and simple for millions, surprisingly Apple has made linking QR Codes to vCards almost impossible. Search google for “vcard on iphone” to see the results for yourself. Most will tell you it is not possible to download contact files (VCARDs) directly to your iPhone from a web page using Mobile Safari.  So previously there’s been no way to use a single system to create a vCard and link to it via a QR Code.

Well – Qfuse has changed the game and now supports linking to a custom, dynamic vCard which you can give to your clients or vendors. The QR Code links to a mobile landing page displaying a link/icon to download the vCard. So you can now add a QR code to the back of your business card which will allow folks to add your contact info to their list of mobile contacts with a few clicks.

Try Qfuse out today for free and make it easy for people to add you to their Contact via a vCards and a QR Code.

Posted in Qfuse News, QR Codes |