QR Codes Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends and Forecast (2026 - 2031)

Global QR Codes Market Trends and Insights

Exploding UPI And Alipay-Style QR Payments In Asia

Interoperable instant-payment rails have turned India and China into proof points for large-scale QR adoption. India processed 16.7 billion UPI transactions in December 2024, with merchant-displayed codes dominating small-ticket sales, a use case now spilling into the Middle East and Africa.^{[1]National Payments Corporation of India, “UPI Product Statistics,” npci.org.in} Alipay-plus extended acceptance to 90 foreign markets by late 2025, and WeChat Pay mirrored the strategy by embedding cross-border settlement inside its mini-program framework. Regulators such as the Reserve Bank of India mandated interoperable formats, breaking proprietary silos and accelerating micro-merchant uptake.^{[2]Reserve Bank of India, “Interoperable QR Code Standards,” rbi.org.in} The network effect entices acquirers and wallet providers to converge on a single scannable standard, reinforcing growth across the QR codes market.

EU Digital Product Passport Mandate Fueling Embedded-QR Labeling

Regulation 2024/1781 obliges European manufacturers to attach machine-readable carriers, explicitly including QR codes, to batteries, textiles, and electronics by 2027, linking every item to a cloud-hosted passport that discloses material composition and end-of-life guidance. Exporters targeting the single market must comply, effectively globalizing the labeling model. Early movers in automotive and consumer electronics now laser-etch durable codes onto housings and demand 99.9% uptime from QR-hosting vendors, driving enterprise platform contracts across the QR codes market. As deadlines approach, packaging-line retrofits and serialization software upgrades are turning what began as a compliance expense into a strategic visibility layer.

GenAI-Led Personalized Dynamic QR Campaigns For Retail Loyalty

Marketers are harnessing large-language-model and computer-vision APIs to auto-generate QR creatives tuned to demographics, location, and time of day.^{[3]Flowcode, “Flowcode Platform and AI QR Generator,” flowcode.com} AI engines test color palettes, call-to-action copy, and landing-page variants, then swap destinations in real time without reprinting physical media. This ability cuts deployment cycles from days to minutes and elevates conversion metrics, prompting retailers and consumer-goods firms to shift budgets from static print to dynamic QR placements. The loop between offline scan analytics and online personalization strengthens first-party data strategies, embedding QR capabilities deeper into marketing stacks and expanding the addressable QR codes market.

U.S. FDA DSCSA Serialization Deadline Boosting Pharma Traceability QR

Pharmaceutical producers met the November 2024 DSCSA requirement by encoding National Drug Code, serial number, lot, and expiry into two-dimensional barcodes on every unit. Distributors verify each handoff, creating an auditable chain that deters counterfeits. Hospitals have since reused the same QR for bedside validation, while insurers pilot prior-authorization forms that auto-populate when a pharmacist scans the code. The rule delivered immediate North American revenue for industrial printers, vision systems, and secure QR platforms, and now influences proposals in Europe and Japan, widening the regulatory footprint that supports the QR codes market.

Apple Or Google Tap-To-Pay Cannibalizing Low-Value QR Transactions

Wallet apps now preload NFC credentials on millions of smartphones, letting consumers hover devices at terminals without scanning a code.^{[4]Apple, “Tap to Pay on iPhone,” apple.com} In mature card markets, merchants already invested in contactless hardware see little incentive to add QR signage, creating a substitution threat for the QR codes market. Google’s Wallet expansion into transit and ticketing deepens NFC entrenchment. Nonetheless, QR remains cheaper for micro-merchants lacking terminals, especially across Asia and South America, mitigating but not nullifying the restraint.

Deep-Fake Phishing Via Look-Alike QR Codes

Security vendors logged a fivefold rise in “quishing” attacks that overlay counterfeit stickers on parking meters and restaurant tables, funneling users to credential-harvest sites. Microsoft now parses embedded URLs inside email-attached QR images to flag suspect domains. Enterprises deploy preview apps that show landing pages before navigation, yet consumer wariness slows spontaneous scanning. Trust degradation, if unaddressed, could shave growth from tourism and hospitality deployments inside the QR codes market.

Segment Analysis

By QR Code Type: App-Store Codes Gain Momentum As Brands Skip Browsers

Website codes contributed 27.59% of 2025 revenue, underscoring their ubiquity across print ads, packaging, and event signage, yet app-store codes are expanding at a 19.43% CAGR as mobile-first brands chase direct-to-app installs. The ability to bypass a webpage trims drop-off rates by up to 40%, a performance edge that has major retailers shifting budget toward scannable app-delivery assets. Dynamic generators now bundle A/B testing, location targeting, and aesthetic templates, giving creative teams near-real-time agility.

Generative-AI engines further compress launch timelines, crafting code layouts that resonate with niche cohorts in specific neighborhoods or transit lines. As a result, app-store codes are expected to chip away at the website-code lead, especially in entertainment, food delivery, and fintech verticals where app funnel efficiency defines customer-acquisition cost. The QR codes market size allocated to code-generation software is therefore tilting toward platforms that specialize in mobile-install journeys.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By Payment Type: Pull Codes Accelerate In Recurring-Billing Use Cases

Push-payment flows dominated with a 58.67% share in 2025, reflecting merchants’ comfort with shopper-initiated scans that leave liability with the payer’s bank. Even so, utilities, subscription software, and insurers now embed pull-payment QR requests inside statements, propelling pull codes at a 17.24% CAGR. Brazil’s PIX and Argentina’s interoperable standards showcase how pull models shrink invoice errors and cut reconciliation time.

Regulators evaluating least-cost routing could further tilt adoption. Block’s 2025 submission urged Australia’s central bank to let merchants route pull-QR rails around card interchange, promising savings that would widen acceptance. Should similar reforms spread, the QR codes market share attached to pull flows will rise, carving a durable niche alongside entrenched push transactions.

By Format: Dynamic Codes Cement Leadership Through Real-Time Control

Dynamic codes controlled 64.92% of 2025 format revenue and should keep widening the gap, given their editability and scan analytics. Enterprises run national campaigns months before launch, yet change offers nightly; dynamic redirect layers make that possible without reprinting assets. They also simplify GDPR erasure requests, an edge that static codes cannot counter.

Static formats linger in low-budget contexts such as business cards and permanent signage. Price compression in cloud storage, however, narrows the cost differential, nudging even small businesses toward dynamic options. Integrations with CRM and marketing-automation suites strengthen the value proposition and expand the QR codes market size captured by SaaS vendors.

By End-User Application: Marketing And Advertising Race Ahead

Payments kept a 45.19% share in 2025 thanks to Asia-Pacific transaction volumes, but marketing codes are pacing the field at an 18.16% CAGR. Offline media, billboards, packaging, and transit ads, now carry scannable calls to action that tie directly into digital funnels, providing long-sought attribution clarity. Fortune 500 advertisers employ AI engines to rotate offers, images, and destinations based on scan-rate feedback, deepening engagement.

Loyalty programs leverage QR to bridge identity across channels, letting shoppers bank rewards with a quick scan instead of card swipes. Hospitality players embed menus, order-and-pay functions, and survey links into a single codebase, stitching together customer journeys. This utility, paired with escalating acquisition costs on crowded online channels, keeps funneling spend toward scannable experiences, bolstering the QR codes market.

Geography Analysis

Asia-Pacific remains the epicenter, delivering 37.59% of global 2025 revenue and tracking an 18.16% CAGR through 2031. China’s unified clearing protocol, India’s interoperability standard, and Southeast Asia’s cross-wallet alignment provide a fertile landscape where QR is the lowest-cost acceptance rail. High smartphone penetration and government digital-identity programs further accelerate uptake across retail, transit, and public-service sectors.

North America and Europe post steadier gains. The U.S. FDA’s serialization rule and the European Union’s product-passport mandate inject compliance-driven volume into packaging and label substrates, sustaining printer and software demand even where NFC shields most consumer payments. Canada and several EU states also tap QR for real-time carbon-footprint disclosure, extending utility beyond checkout.

South America surprises on the upside. Brazil’s PIX processed 6.3 billion March 2025 transactions, 41% via QR, while Argentina logged 62.6 million December 2024 scans. Central banks across the region now harmonize instant-payment rails around QR as a shared front end, a policy trend that shortens time-to-scale. The Middle East accelerates on tourism goals, mandating multilingual menus and business-license verification through QR, while Africa tests interoperable pilots, though smartphone costs temper near-term volumes.