Measuring Real-Space Advertising Effectiveness by "Digital Standards" — AccuNotify™ Demonstrates Storefront Action Rate 4 Times Higher Than QR Codes

Vitanet Japan Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Takeo Yamada) analyzed the results of a comparative monitor survey against QR codes conducted at actual retail chain stores for its notification-based advertising medium 'AccuNotify™,' which directly connects real-space foot traffic to actions on smartphones. As a result, the company confirmed that AccuNotify™ demonstrates significantly higher action-inducing power than QR codes.

The target site viewing rate via AccuNotify™ was 85.7%, while that via QR codes was 21.4%, confirming a difference of approximately four times on an observed value basis. Furthermore, statistical analysis suggested the possibility of a difference of up to approximately 10 times. These results indicate that the high performance of a 14.9% CTR confirmed in actual operations at Naha Airport does not depend solely on the conditions of a specific location, but is supported by the structural superiority of AccuNotify™, which makes users feel less friction from reading operations or psychological hurdles.

■ Expanding Market and Left-Behind Real Space of Storefronts

The retail media network (RMN) advertising market is one of the fastest-growing areas in the global advertising market. The global market size is projected to expand from $184 billion (approx. 28 trillion yen) in 2025 to $312 billion (approx. 47 trillion yen) in 2030 (Forrester research). The domestic retail media advertising market in Japan is expected to grow to 606.6 billion yen in 2025 (up 129% year-on-year) and exceed 1 trillion yen in 2029 (CARTA HOLDINGS / Digital InFact research).

However, despite more than 80% of consumption taking place in physical stores, domestic storefront digital advertising remains at only about 21 billion yen, representing the slowest-growing area. Globally, the out-of-home and transit advertising (OOH) market, valued at approximately $50 billion (approx. 7.6 trillion yen), is also advancing in digitalization, yet faces the same challenge of lacking a means to 'convert attention into action and measure it as a result.'

■ From 'Being Seen' to 'Being Acted Upon': Drastically Reducing Drop-offs in RMN and OOH

Until now, QR codes have been commonly used as a means of driving users from real-space RMN or OOH to the Web. However, QR codes have a structural issue where 'impressions (number of people exposed to the advertisement) cannot be measured until they are scanned.' Because the denominator is unclear, standard evaluation metrics in digital advertising, such as CTR (click-through rate), cannot be applied, making objective effectiveness measurement as a medium difficult. Furthermore, QR codes require active and multiple steps from the user: 'noticing the ad -> stopping -> launching the camera -> scanning.' The operational load and psychological hurdles at each step lead to drop-offs in the middle of the action funnel. As a result, only a tiny fraction of users actually reach the net (Web pages, videos, LINE app, digital coupons, etc.), and the reality is that even the exact retention rate cannot be grasped.

AccuNotify™ solves these challenges simultaneously. By delivering notification advertisements directly to the user's smartphone the moment they enter the target area, it clearly measures 'notification delivery = impression.' The action of 'tapping' this notification is measured as 'CTR,' providing an extremely smooth action path that does not cause any hassle for the user while possessing conversion value equivalent to a QR code 'scan.'

AccuNotify™ measures notification delivery as impressions and taps as CTR, directly connecting physical store touchpoints to purchasing behaviors such as Web, apps, and e-commerce.

■ A/B Testing in Physical Stores: Eliminating QR Code Hassle and Multiplying Action Rate by 4

A comparative verification of the same promotion via 'AccuNotify™' and 'store-posted QR codes' at an actual retail chain store confirmed an overwhelming difference as follows:

- AccuNotify™: Action Rate 85.7% / Required Action: Tap the notification (advertisement) on the smartphone
- QR Code: Action Rate 21.4% / Required Action: Stop, discover the QR code, take out the smartphone, launch the camera, read the QR code

This represents an approximately four-fold difference in action rates on an observed value basis, and analysis of the 95% confidence interval suggests that a difference of up to approximately 10 times could occur. Under conditions where the same participant could select either method, zero participants used only the QR code, confirming an extremely strong statistical significance (p=0.0039).

Comparing target site viewing rates (action rate of driving to the net) within the actual store: Even in the intra-participant comparison, 9 participants went via AccuNotify™ only, while 0 participants went via QR codes only, confirming a statistically significant difference in the McNemar's test.