Survey: Three-quarters of shoppers to scan QR codes for Black Friday, Cyber Monday
QR codes are expected to play a key role in holiday shopping this year.
Roughly three-quarters (74%) of consumers say they are likely to scan a QR code during Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping, according to a new report from Uniquode. Forty-four percent of consumers are more likely to scan a QR code during the two shopping holidays for the promise of a deal, while more than half (56%) shoppers say they will do so for a promotional offer.
Nearly 50% of millennial and Gen Z respondents are “very likely” to scan QR Codes during retail sales, and 46% of Gen X say they are driven by deals by scan. Gen Z (41%) and millennials (40%) are also driven by discounts and deals, followed by faster checkout. More than a third (36%) of all consumers are not “entirely sold” on scanning QR codes.
Scannability (35%) is the biggest QR code issue consumers face in retail settings, followed by slow load times (27%), broken links (26%) and expired offers (22%), according to Uniquode. Only 17% of consumers say they have experienced no issues when scanning QR codes in-store.
Almost 60% of retail marketers used QR codes in their 2024 holiday shopping campaigns. Among non-users, over 40% said they would consider using QR codes this year, depending on cost or effectiveness.
[READ MORE: Survey: Consumers feel prices rise; plan to adjust Black Friday, Cyber Monday spending]
“QR codes are an extremely valuable source of real-time feedback and customer insights, but the performance data is still underutilized,” said Ravi Pratap Maddimsetty, co-founder and CTO of Uniqode. “Only a small number of marketers tracked how consumers were actually interacting with codes during Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2024, and an even smaller percentage used the insights to make adjustments from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. Reviewing and optimizing the performance of dynamic QR codes in real time can help marketers see even more success during sales events."
Uniqode surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers and over 200 marketing leaders for its 2025 State of Black Friday and Cyber Monday Marketing Report.
