Back in February of this year, when the threat of COVID was becoming a global cause for concern, we posed the question on this site about whether 2020 would be the year of the QR code.
There’s a counter on the homepage of the GSMA’s website which tells you that today, there are some 5.1 billion unique mobile subscribers in the world. Elsewhere in its pages you can see that there are now more than one billion registered mobile money accounts – that’s one in five of the world’s mobile subscribers.
This month’s Wired magazine has refreshed its opinion of the QR code from marketing gimmick to everyday essential.
Payments consultancy CMSPI believes the looming deadline in Europe for retailers to comply with the regulations around Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) for online sales could cause further damage to an industry already suffering from the effects of severely reduced in-store footfall.
The modern mobile industry is only a little over 30 years old – the mobile money market barely a decade. Yet the power of that mobile device to change habits and revolutionise the way we live is both breathtaking and undiminished. The GSMA released a report this month that showed there are now more than one billion mobile money accounts active in the world.
The average amount being withdrawn from a cash machine per visit had climbed to £80. However, closer reading of the article also showed that the number of visits per month had declined by 40 per cent and the total being withdrawn had fallen by a staggering £100m per day compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
But if you want permanent proof of how adaptable QR code technology is, then look no further than Roy Healy. Back in 2019, Roy spent two hours in a tattoo parlour having a QR code inked into his forearm. The code initially pointed to Roy’s website, but he can change what happens whenever someone scans the code as often as he likes – sometimes it goes to his blog, sometimes to a fun website, or sometimes to LinkedIn and to what I guess we should call his Inked In profile.
We are living through unparalleled times. The COVID 19 pandemic is causing worldwide disruption on a scale that few thought possible – stocks and shares in free-fall, restrictions on travel, on socialising, entertainment, on sport. There’s panic buying in the shops and online grocery sales are booming even as retailers struggle to manage the demand.
