QR codes go into Tesco branches from Friday

From this Friday we’ll be using QR Codes in store to link customers to the mobile version of Tesco Direct to ore-order the new Nintendo 3DS console.

Mike Fethers, Assistant Buyer for Tesco Gaming (what a great role!) sent me a digital copy of the poster and QR code we'll be showing in-store. Mike believes that this is the first time the mobile site and QR codes have been implemented at a store level.

So if you're in a large Tesco branch on Friday, wander over to the console games section and look out for the Nintendo DS Top 40 Chart poster featuring the QR code (click poster for larger version):

Here's the code if you want to try with your smart phone and a barcode app now:

Tesco's first QR-code enabled print advert

Mike Fethers, a buyer for Tesco Entertainment, has sent me Tesco's first QR-code enabled print advert!

You should be able to scan the QR code on the image he sent me below (click image to show larger version if needed) using your smart-phone with a suitable barcode-scanning app.

The QR-code contains an HTML link which is http://bit.ly/aefZn7 which gets converted by bit.ly into 

http://www.tescoentertainment.com/store/browse/campaign/Call-of-Duty-Black-Ops/

That page is a deep link into our Tesco Entertainment site that enables you buy the game direct from Tesco. It's great to see QR-codes make the light of day at Tesco!

UPDATE: You can find out how many times that the HTML link has been followed by clicking this link! (Hat tip to @edent on Twitter)

Tesco.com HQ QR-Code: Android phones are most used decoding devices / QR codes with built-in images

Thanks for the feedback on the QR code 'experiment' I tried on my fellow staff members yesterday. Sounds like quite a few of you had fun finding ways of decoding the QR code I put up on the media screens at Tesco.com HQ.

Judging by feedback, it seems that more Android-based phones were used to decode than any other device (both from staff at HQ and other people who saw the QR code I included in the blog post). It just goes to show what inroads are being made by Google's mobile operating system, at least amongst the tech community.

Roger Smolski pointed me towards his 2D-code online magazine, where he reports on the latest news in 2-dimensional barcode design. I was particularly interested in his article on how mathematicians are making 2D-barcodes more 'friendly' by adding pictures in with the barcode display in a way that does not make decoding more challenging for scanners.

QR-codes, with their ability to store lots of data in a small space - and their attendant ability to intrigue people enough to get them to decode that data - are set to have an interesting future and one worth watching.

In the meantime the barcode will stay up on the media screens in HQ (rotated with the other slides) for today so please have a go at decoding it on your phone or device - or try it here of course.

Square barcode showing on screens at Tesco.com HQ today

UPDATE 11 December 2017:

In an interesting twist, this very barcode is used in an epsiode of the ITV detective drama 'Midsomer Murders' called 'Murder By Magic'.

In the police station, a wall of photographs of the suspects in a murder have QR codes attached to them:

As our detectives discuss one particular suspect, the camera zooms in on his photograph:

An eagle-eyed viewer, watching the show in Germany in HD on movie channel ZDF NEO, paused the show and captured the QR code - and was sent straight to this page!

So welcome to you if you've followed the same path. Oh, and let me point out that English villages are very pleasant and peaceful places. They certainly do not have the murder rate that Midsomer has!

Anyway, I return you to 2010:
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Well done if you've arrived here from decoding the square 'QR' barcode square I put up on all the media screens at Tesco.com HQ in Falcon Way today. The text data in the barcode (recreated above) points to the direct web address of this blog post.

I wanted to see how many people 1) noticed and 2) decided to see if they could decode it. If it works, this means that people are taking notice of these barcode squares and acting on them. I'll work out what that means later!

I used the QR barcode generator web page at http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ to make the barcode, used my Mac's "snapshot" feature to take an image of the barcode, uploaded it to the screens then tested it on my iPhone using the app "Barcode" by Stefan Hafeneger.

Email me or comment on this post if you did decode the barcode and let me know how you did it (e.g. an mobile phone app?).

Here's how it looks on one of the media screens set up throughout Tesco.com HQ (click for bigger picture):

UPDATE: Colleague Dave caught taking a photo of the barcode displaying on one of the screens (I asked for his permission to put it in the public domain afterwards!). Click image for larger picture.