QR codes and the wine industry

QR codes, or Quick Response codes, have been the in vogue of late, so what is it doing for the wine industry?

A while back I was instrumental in placing the first QR code on a bottle of wine. That was back in 2009, since then there has been so much hype surrounding the QR code that I’m surprised that we do not see more of them on wine bottles.

The problem has been smart phone penetration in the New Zealand market. With smart phones contributing only 16% of all handsets and data plans being so expensive, it’s little wonder we have seen a slow uptake of QR codes.

Should the winery have good overseas USA, Britain, and Asian markets there is no reason that they shouldn’t be using them, either as neck collars or on the back label.

Fiasco Wines set a precedent with the QR code as the main part of its logo design. This made it very difficult for any other New Zealand winery to do the same. Wineries can however put QR codes on the back of bottles for diners to scan, albeit unsocial when at a dinner table.

The QR code should take you to a mobile site, and there is very little point of using a QR code on a label unless you have a mobile website, to take the consumer to a page either where they can read all about the wine and winemakers notes, or to a site displaying where they can buy the wine outside of the restaurant.

The failure with most wineries is that they son’t have a mobile version of their current website, if they have a website at all. Many wineries want to implement Apps but would be better off spending money on a mobile website. If the winery is using a WordPress platform the mobile site plugin is free.

The winery can then set up the QR code here and set the correct URL of their choice and then print and save the QR code that is generated for all other marketing purposes. Wine labels should be matt and not shiny, as there is too much reflection when the smartphone is trying to scan the QR code.

Given the QR codes are good for 256 characters there’s little need for a URL shortener when creating one. Please consider the factors that could result in an ineffective (or even unusable) QR code execution:

* Minimum size of the QR code graphic on the label and/or bottle necker

* Print-resolution (vector) graphics vs. low resolution graphics (from Google, et al)

* Mobile landing page(s) that present your content, formatted for any smartphone (iPhone, Android, Windows, etc.)

* If applicable, video streaming across poor cell connections (using services optimized for mobile viewing)

* Most importantly: Measurement & Reporting