Another form of mobile marketing which is of recent development and on the rise is
the quick response (QR) code. The QR code was introduced in the consumer market
in 2011 and is referred to “a two dimensional digital image that can be easily scanned
by any mobile devices camera or special application”. A QR code can be seen as a
small box with different patterns that distinguishes one product or identity from one
another. When a consumer scans the code of a product they tend to be directed to the
company’s or retailer’s website whereby they can learn more about the product and
decide on making a purchase (Cata, Patel and Sakaguchi, 2013).
There are many other forms of mobile marketing such as the location based
marketing, mobile applications and mobile banner advertisements. Location based
marketing delivers audiovisual contents to a targeted consumer’s mobile device
based upon their location using the GPS technology. Mobile applications consist of
advertisements inside an application or a widget that is often exposed to the user
while using the application. Many applications could be accessed for free by the
users and often they are exposed to advertisements as a cost of using the applications.
Marketers do however analyze the relevance factor of the advertisement so that it
may be ef fective and target the appropriate consumers. Mobile banner
advertisements are common to the ones present on a PC whereby a small banner like
pop-ups tend to appear at the top or bottom of the page while a user accesses the
content of the progr am being used. Some people find these banner ads to be
annoying since they tend to block the content of the program and may be difficult to
close (Rayfield, 2010).
With the high growth rate of smartphones many marketers are adjusting their
advertising strategies and tactics in favor of mobile marketing to adapt to the
consumer’s behavior and lifestyle (Lamarre, Galarneau and Boeck, 2012). According
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