ISPA Expo: L&P debuts QR codes

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The big news today is QR codes.O.K., I admit I wasn’t familiar with them, but that doesn’t mean much as I’m pretty far down on the tech scale.

QR codes will play a role at the Leggett & Platt booth at the ISPA Expo, which I’m covering each day this week in my bedding blog.

Leggett & Platt, one of the largest exhibitors at the Expo, is using Quick Response (QR) codes to give show attendees a new way to learn about its new products, of which there are literally more than a dozen.

Here’s how it works: Almost anyone who uses a smart phone equipped with a camera can download a QR code reader and begin scanning those codes to access special content on the L&P introductions. L&P has placed the codes throughout its booth. QR codes have the ability to store more information than traditional bar codes, L&P said.

“In an on-demand world, we want to provide our current and potential customers with an easy way to engage with Leggett & Platt on their schedule,” said Mark Quinn, group executive vice president of marketing in L&P’s Bedding Group. “The QR code technology accomplishes this objective via a simple and non-intrusive smart phone application. For example, when someone is in our booth and wants to learn more about VertiCoil Edge, they can simply scan the barcode to gain access to a special site equipped with all the information they’ll need. It’s a lot easier than transporting piles of brochures.”

That sounds good. Those piles of brochures do get heavy. By the end of the Expo, I’ve usually got a couple of pounds of paper in my bag.

Want more information on L&P’s show introductions? See this week’s issue of Furniture/Today, available at the Expo.

SNOW REPORT: Welcome, show attendees, to North Carolina, the Winter Wonderland. We’ve had an unusually snowy winter, and a driving snow escorted me to Charlotte this morning as I drove down here from my home in High Point. Don’t worry: This snow won’t be around long. At least I don’t think it will.

NATURAL NEWS: There are plenty of natural and “green” products at the Expo. Lenzing Fibers is introducing what it calls “the first complete bed system from nature itself.” The company’s cellulose fiber Tencel can be used in everything from foam paddings to filling fibers to bed linens. Lenzing shows in booth 2331.

I BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW: That Larry Starkey, vice president of sales at Pratrivero (formerly Soltex), is a former detective. First he worked in vice and narcotics and then he moved over to homicide. After a background like that, he must find his current work - selling fabrics - to be pretty tame. Larry will tell you about his unique background at the Pratrivero booth, 501. Ask him about the company’s new fire-resistant filler cloth.

COMING TOMORROW: How is the mattress industry doing with the federal fire-resistant bedding law?