Today, digital payments are the mainstay between purchase and sale in India. Having the right amount of currency notes or small change, and needing to hand out hard cash in exchange for goods and services, have all but diminished in the digital marketplace.
A most familiar sight at almost every point of sale, from a small roadside pushcart to an upmarket boutique, restaurant, hospital, or vehicle dealership, is the convenient use of a QR code. Each of the aforementioned businesses and others places these codes at their locations in the form of wall stickers or little tabletop standees, which are scanned by customers to make payments that are seamless, paperless, touch-free and stress-free, completely avoiding the embarrassing scene of ‘Don’t have change’.
Invented by Japanese engineer Masahiro Hara in 1994, the QR code was originally meant for tracking vehicles and parts moving down the assembly line. It, however, captured the imagination of the global public after the advent of the smartphone. In India, QR codes became commonplace in 2016, largely around the demonetisation period. It proved to be as much a boon for ecommerce, as much for the unorganised sector.
What’s in the code?
Simply put, a QR or ‘quick response’ code is a two-dimensional scannable barcode that stores data, which can be read by smartphones and other devices (which have in-built scan capability through a camera). It consists of black squares and dots, over a white background, representing different pieces of information. Each dot represents a ‘one’, while a blank a ‘zero’ in binary code. The patterns encode sets of numbers, letters or both, including URLs. At its smallest, this grid is 21 rows by 21 columns, while at its biggest it is 177 rows by 177 columns.
Meanwhile, a QR reader can identify a standard QR code based on the three large squares outside the code itself. Once these squares are identified, the reader knows that everything contained within is a QR code. The reader then analyses the code by breaking the entire data down to a grid. QR codes are commonly used to share links to websites and contact information, besides for making payments, while also unlocking links to videos and other information.
Practically, most online data, including social media profiles, can be shared/protected through the integration of a QR code, which works by encoding data in a machine-readable format.
When scanned, its unique pattern translates into human-readable data, allowing the information delivery or transaction to happen in seconds.
While the most common mode to decipher a QR code is a smartphone, there could be devices lacking this capability. In that case, specialised apps can be downloaded to assist in cracking these codes.
Today’s businesses and online payment firms use multiple resources, called QR code generators, to seamlessly set up these codes, inserting into the different forms of data, making transactions easier and customers more satisfied.