Intage Inc. Improve Scanning Speed and Accuracy With Scandit

Intage Inc., Japan’s largest marketing research company, is a pioneer in the industry, developing research technology that captures every aspect of consumers. When the company was founded in 1960, it started by collecting purchasing records using handwritten shopping books, and in the 1990s, it developed a barcode reader and made it possible to transmit data over telephone lines. Following the spread of smartphones, it now practices marketing research using consumer apps equipped with Scandit Smart Data Capture.

Barcode scanning is the backbone of our business. If we couldn’t read it, our business would be unsustainable. That’s why Scandit’s scanning speed and accuracy are such an important technology that supports our marketing research business.

Yuji Konno, Consumer Data Management Department, Data Management Division, Intage Inc.

The challenge: Scanning issues faced by the CueScanner consumer marketing research app

Intage Inc., Asia’s No. 1 marketing research company (Based on “ESOMAR’s Global Top-50 Insights Companies 2024”, Based on consolidated group sales), continuously collects daily shopping data from 53,600 domestic men and women aged 15 to 79 through the National Consumer Panel Survey (SCI).

Consumers participating in the panel survey use an app called CueScanner, which can be used on smartphones, to scan the barcodes of purchased products and send the purchasing data to Intage. CueScanner has been available as an app for iOS and Android since 2012. However, in 2018, the Android version of CueScanner had some issues that needed to be resolved.

Kiyoshi Takano of the company’s Consumer Data Management Department looks back on the situation at the time as follows:

“When we first developed CueScanner, we used an open source library to scan two-dimensional barcodes. However, in 2018, we ran into an issue where the Android version of CueScanner could not accurately read barcodes on some models.”

Yuji Konno of the Consumer Data Management Department, Data Management Division, who was involved in the development of the app, analyzes the issues with the Android version of CueScanner as follows:

“At the time, there were many models of Android-compatible smartphones with different OS versions, and the open source library we were using for development was becoming complicated. We considered unifying the library with the one used for iOS, but this did not work out. So we decided to use commercial scanning software that could be supported by the developer, rather than open source.”

The solution: Scandit’s accurate and flexible barcode scanning software

Scandit was selected for its reading accuracy, stable scanning performance, and compatibility with Android models and iOS.

The development team spent one to two months comparing several commercial barcode scanning software solutions. As a result, Scandit was selected because it can read barcodes accurately even when the version or model of Android changes. Regarding the reason for the selection, Mr. Konno explained, “Among the software we compared, Scandit was the best. Some of the barcodes that the monitors read have various adverse conditions, such as partially cloudy parts like frozen foods, or uneven codes like films attached to vegetables. Even in such difficult conditions, Scandit recognized the barcodes with a fairly high level of accuracy. It also had the fastest reading speed among the software we compared. Furthermore, it achieved stable reading even with different Android models and iOS. We decided to adopt it after making a comprehensive judgment of these performances.”

After deciding to adopt Scandit, the Android version of CueScanner was released a few months later, and it achieved stable barcode scanning. Mr. Kitahara of the System Department, Group Business Promotion Division, Intage Technosphere, Inc. commented on Scandit’s performance:

Since Scandit has a lot of documentation, development went smoothly. The high scanning performance and high accuracy of the collected data have made the Android version of CueScanner much easier to use. As a developer, I feel more secure knowing that I can contact support and solve any problems that arise, compared to free software that may disappear at any time. Also, compared to previous open source, Scandit can scan barcodes quickly, so we added a function to CueScanner that allows you to adjust the scanning interval. Some monitors carefully scan each product, so if the reaction is too fast, there was a concern that multiple registrations will occur.

Furthermore, after evaluating Scandit’s performance highly, “We decided to adopt Scandit for the iOS version in addition to the Android version. We decided that unifying it into apps from the same manufacturer would improve development efficiency because support would also be centralized,” adds Konno.

Due to Scandit’s performance, it was also adopted for the new app Shopireco

After CueScanner, Intage Inc. developed an app called Shopireco, which allows users to record purchases and send data using only their smartphones, and is fun to use like a game. Scandit was also adopted for Shopireco. Motoki Sato of the Consumer Data Management Department, Data Management Business Division, explains the background to this as follows:

With CueScanner, you need to send the barcode data scanned with your smartphone using a PC. In contrast, with Shopireco, data can be sent using only your smartphone. Some monitors feel that it is more convenient to use only their smartphones, so Shopireco was developed to meet the needs of users. We understood the performance of Scandit during the development stage, so we adopted it without hesitation.

Currently, about half of the monitors use Shopireco to send their daily purchase data.

Results: Highly accurate reading data helps improve the efficiency of in-house analysis work

Mr. Chiaki Kurihara of the Consumer Data Management Department, Data Management Division, evaluates the significance of accurate barcode scanning by Scandit as follows:

“To continue accurate nationwide consumer panel surveys, we need our monitors to scan and send the products they purchase on a regular basis every day. If there is a problem with the barcode scanning at that time, it will hinder the continuous daily data collection. The stable barcode scanning by Scandit is an important function that supports the comfortable use of Shopireco and CueScanner.”

Mr. Konno adds, “Barcode data collection is the foundation of our business. If there is a problem with the reading, our business will not be viable. That is why Scandit’s scanning speed and accuracy are important technologies that support our marketing research business.”

Furthermore, with regard to the high reading accuracy of Scandit, Takano commented, “Barcode data collected from all over the country is processed as purchasing data for marketing research on the server at our headquarters. Since we adopted Scandit, the reading accuracy has improved, so the rate of data errors has decreased and the workload within the company has been reduced. Scandit also supports not only domestic barcodes but also overseas barcodes, so the wide range of types that can be read is also effective for collecting purchasing data.”

Future considerations: Intage Inc. will also consider using multi-scanning and augmented reality (AR) from Scandit in the future

Regarding future efforts, Kitahara said, “Currently, we are limiting Scandit’s multi-scanning and augmented reality (AR) functions. However, we will consider implementing multi-scanning, which can scan multiple barcodes at once, while listening to the requests of our monitors. We are also considering whether AR can be used for app tutorials, etc.”

Since its founding in 1960, the company has always provided the necessary data collection technology in line with changes in consumer purchasing behavior, and is working to evolve in line with the market.

As one example, Sato said, “As more consumers use convenience stores, there will be fewer opportunities to collect data by opening products purchased at supermarkets or department stores at home and scanning barcodes, as was previously the case. To keep up with these changes in purchasing behavior, we must improve the app’s usability so that data can be collected by quickly scanning products on the spot. In addition, in the future we will need to consider supporting QR codes in addition to barcodes. We hope that Scandit will be able to be used to accommodate these changes in scanning methods as well.”