JCPenney Goes Mobile with QR Codes – An Intern’s Perspective

JCPenney has stepped up its mobile presence by placing mobile bar codes on its static ads that appear in newspapers and magazines. The QR codes have been increasing consumer traffic to the company’s mobile website that lets consumers ship JCPenney’s entire Call It Spring collection. Consumers can also browse by category such as women, men, home store, kids, shoes and baby, as well as use the search feature to find products they are specifically looking for. Busy customers are receiving a much needed service by accessing coupons and discounts, literally at their fingertips. More and more customers are gravitating to this form of shopping. It’s more than advertising, it’s useful to the customer.

JCPenney is also increasing its mobile database by letting consumers opt-in to receive coupons and alerts “Smartphones are rapidly emerging as a device central to the purchase process,” said Kate Coultas, a spokeswoman for JCPenney, Dallas.“Our Call it Spring ad in Cosmopolitan is just the latest example of how we are using QR codes,” Ms. Coultas said.

Here at Rockit Digital, we are doing some very neat things with QR Codes, like our Like Spike product: http://www.likespike.com/ LikeSpike is the easiest way possible to generate Facebook ‘Likes’. It all starts with a simple QR code that, when scanned by a smartphone, leads people to a specially designed web page that features your logo and a Like button. Once the Like button is ‘pushed’, they have just become a Fan of your organization on Facebook.

Personally, I love the idea of using a QR Code for shopping. As a busy college student, using QR Codes saves me time and money. It is so much easier to scan the image and take me directly to the product’s offering as opposed to reading through several paragraphs of text in a print advertisement. The QR Code process is short and sweet, and gives me immediate satisfaction. In addition, QR Codes are so much more interactive and engaging than a static advertisement. I think this is because they are a relatively new technology that holds great appeal. Whenever I see a QR Code, I become curious about what I’ll find on the other end.