Although men and women report equal awareness of QR codes (77%), men who are aware of them are 75% more likely than women to have used one (28% vs. 16%) to access product information, according to survey results released in February 2012 by BrandSpark International, in association with Better Homes and Gardens. Looking at age groups, 18-34-year-olds (85%) display the highest awareness of QR codes, with 30% of those having used one. 35-49-year-olds are next, with 80% having heard of QR codes, and 23% of those respondents having used one.

These findings align with results from an August 2011 study released by comScore MobiLens, which found that a mobile user that scanned a QR code during June 2011 was more likely to be male (60.5% of code scanning audience), and skew toward ages 18-34 (53.4%). According to the BrandSpark survey, overall, 77% of respondents are aware of QR codes, and of those, 19% have used one.

Breaking down the data by age groups, 18-34-year-olds (66%) are the most likely to be interested in downloading or scanning coupons, ahead of 35-49-year-olds (48%), and those over 50 (43%). The groups fall in the same order of preference when it comes to interest in using an app that finds and categorizes mobile coupons (35%, 28%, and 25%, respectively), and making instant purchases/transactions on their device (43%, 33%, and 28%, respectively).

Data from the “2012 American Shopper Study” indicates that 54% of smartphone owners are interested in using their device to download or scan coupons, while 32% would be interested in using an application that finds and categorizes mobile coupons. A significant proportion of smartphone owners are also interested in using their devices to make or store shopping lists (46%), make instant purchases/transactions (38%), use an app that informs them about new food, beauty/grooming, and household products (36%), and participate in a contest or other type of promotion (34%).

What’s even more impressive is that 1-5 people recently scanned a QR Code:

18% of mobile users surveyed in Q4 2011 reported having scanned a QR code in the past 90 days, according to [pdf] a JiWire report released in February 2012. Among mobile shopping activities, this was on par with the proportion who had redeemed a mobile coupon, though was less than the percentage who had redeemed an online (34%) or newspaper (22%) coupon. The QR code usage rate represented 53% of the mobile users who knew that their mobile device had a QR scanner. In fact, 33% of users said they did not know if their device had a QR scanner.