ICANN Under Fire, QR Code Usage, and Ecommerce Sales Stats

Welcome to another week. Today, we’ll learn more about the increase of QR code usage among smartphone users, take a look at some ecommerce sales stats, and find out why the ICANN plan to create personalized domain names is receiving some harsh criticism from the IAB.

QR Code Usage Increasing Among Smartphone Users

A few years ago, QR codes were obscure, strange looking barcodes, rarely seen outside of Japan. Today, QR codes are everywhere, from packaging to advertisements, coupons, and even business cards and apparel.

According to Comscore, 6.2% of all smartphone users are also QR code users, meaning that they actively scan QR codes. The majority of these people (slightly more than 60%) are male, and 36% have a total household income of at least $100k a year.

While these numbers may seem small, they should nevertheless be encouraging for businesses that use QR codes, particularly considering the growing popularity of overall smartphone usage and mobile commerce.

In A Recession, Ecommerce Stores Remain Profitable

According to the Wall Street Journal, the U. S. Commerce Department’s online retail report, slated to be released tomorrow, shows that ecommerce retail stores have experienced a strong sales growth this year.

While impending recession will likely mean lower profit margins for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers, those with an ecommerce presence are likely to fare better. What’s more, ecommerce-only stores may see even less of a drop in their profit margins, according to the WSJ, which cites the relative profit-stability of ecommerce stores during the 2008 recession as an example.

IAB Wants Withdrawal Of Top-Level ICANN Domain Plan

The IAB (International Advertising Bureau has asked ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to cancel plans that would allow companies and brands to register trademarked and personalized domain name extensions.

As we reported back in June of this year, branded domain name extensions, which are slated to become available in January of 2012, may significantly change domain name extensions as we know them. Instead of a .com, for example, websites could sport a .soda or other product extension, or even a trademarked brand name, such as .pepsi or .coke.

However, according to the IAB, the high cost of applying, as well as the prospect of cybersquatting and extortion make ICANN’s plan a bad idea.

“ICANN’s potentially momentous change seems to have been made in a top-down star chamber. There appears to have been no economic impact research, no full and open stakeholder discussions, and little concern for the delicate balance of the Internet ecosystem,” said Randall Rothenberg, CEO and President, IAB in a recent Business Wire interview.  “This could be disastrous for the media brand owners we represent and the brand owners with which they work. We hope that ICANN will reconsider both this ill-considered decision and the process by which it was reached.”

The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) has also criticized the proposed change, calling it “economically unsupportable.”

While ICANN asserts that it will have a lengthy application process designed to discourage cybersquatting and that the change will provide more advantages than disadvantages to companies and brands, clearly, not everyone is on board with the idea.

You can read more about this issue here.