Office Depot is using QR codes on products to deliver content designed to help customers get organized in the new year.

The QR codes are part of a multichannel effort that includes a microsite featuring tips from experts on how to organize any home or business as well as videos. To drive engagement from in-store customers, QR codes have been placed on products marked “Organize Me 2013 Expert Pick” that link back to the content.

“Office Depot customers are very tech savvy and are often shopping our stores with smartphones in hand,” said Owen Torres, communications manager at Office Depot, Boca Raton, FL.

“With the ‘Organize Me 2013’ campaign, Office Depot is offering its customers a value-added shopping experience by not only helping them navigate through the store, but also by offering expert videos, providing organization tips along with product suggestions,” he said.

“This way, we are helping them not just to buy products, but also offering a more comprehensive solution to their organizational needs.”

Great organization tools
To kick-off the campaign, organization tips, product suggestions and videos are being provided by a home and office organization expert and the author of a book about gadgets.

In addition to acting as an activation tool, mobile also plays a role in this effort as the focus of product recommendations showing how mobile can help users get organized.

The campaign also features a contest to search for the next great organizer. To enter the contest, customers can submit a video of their best organizing tips at www.facebook.com/officedepot.

Office Depot will pick 10 finalists during the week of January 20 and give Office Depot’s Facebook fans a chance to vote to determine two winners, who will each receive a $2,013 Office Depot gift card.

Additionally, customers who visit Office Depot’s Facebook page can take a quiz to determine their organization type, as well as receive a coupon good for a free calendar, redeemable at Office Depot stores nationwide.

Enhanced shopping experiences
Office Depot’s mobile strategy includes a mobile site and a mobile app, which features a bar code scanner.

The retailer recently revamped its iPhone application recently to enhance the mobile shopping experience by enabling users to order ink directly from their mobile phones (see story).

Last year, Office Depot became the second big box retailer to test PayPal’s point-of-sale program that lets shoppers pay for in-store purchases by typing in their mobile phone number and a PIN, which it later rolled to all of its stores (see story).

“Our customers engage with Office Depot across a variety of channels,” Mr. Torres said. “Many visit us both in the store, on our Web site and our mobile app.

“With ‘Organize Me 2013,’ we are offering our customers a value-added shopping experience, with the ability to access video tips from our organizational experts, regardless of how and where they would like to shop with us,” he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York