Covid-19 has literally made foodecommerce explode, with triple-digit growth in Italy as well. It is time to organize the platforms and logistics, to overcome the difficulties that emerged with the stress-test during lockdown. But also to consider opportunities to develop information codes.
In addition to the need to ensure compliance, which is still lacking, there is also the opportunity to provide consumers with a more effective and interactive shopping experience , thanks in part to IoT(Internet of Things) technologies. The solution is offered by the international GS1 Digital Link standard.
Physical labels and digital information
Consumer attention to the information accompanying food products has grown significantly over the past few years. Coop Italia reports converge with Eurispes surveys and find mathematical confirmation in theImmagino Observatory (GS1-Italy, Nielsen), which scans shelf rotations of 112 thousand references.
Physical labels, as we have already pointed out, can come alongside more comprehensive, consumer-friendly and user-friendly digital information. Simply place a QR-code reader on the shelf so that even those without smartphones can view (or read, for the visually impaired and blind) the news about each reference.
Mandatory information on the physical label may be minimized-because it is made available through alternative means of information-as soon as the Commission exercises the delegation given to it 9 years ago with the Food Information Regulation (reg. EU 1169/11, Article 12.3). While waiting for the wake-up call from Brussels, the voluntary adoption of a common language is essential to ensure uniformity of information to consumers and among supply chain operators. As has already happened in France, thanks to the sharing of the
Code Online Food
launched by of GS1-France on 7.10.19.
Barcode, QR-Code, GS1 Digital Link
The bar code is now the only information that can unequivocally identify each reference. Every 24 hours around the world, bar code readers play about 6 billion beeps. A sound and an acronym, Need for Product Information. But the need for information is not immediately available to the end consumer. And it is precisely in order to offer additional product-related information, including in audio and video format, that an increasing number of operators in recent years have included the QR-Code on the label.
The QR code has been a formidable success first in Asia and the American continent, now in Europe as well. It is a global standard, readable by any smartphone and other devices, and is extremely versatile. So much so that it has even been adopted by some authorities, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA, USA) for export approvals.
GS1 Digital Link was created by GS1 (Global Standard) – the only body authorized to issue barcodes, planet-wide – precisely to resolve the confusion being created between barcodes and QRs, the latter of which are de facto substandard in terms of information content.
GS1 Digital Link
GS1 Digital Link is a web address built according to standards, which can contain any GS1 key (code), facilitating both B2B and B2C communications. (1) A wide range of information can be accessed by scanning (with smartphones or other devices):
– the data entered in the classic barcode (GTIN, Global Trade Item Number), but also
– the product sheet, which can be placed on the manufacturer’s website or on the distributor’s e-commerce portal, as well as
– blockchain, useful for communicating traceability data, optimizing food safety risk management, and demonstratingsupply chain integrity with an incorruptible digital notarization system,
– audio and video materials, recipes and instruction manuals, tips on recycling or the destination of packaging after use, with a view to the circular economy. With the ability among other things to include links to social network channel pages and facilitate the sharing of shopping experiences.
The customer experience can also be expanded by programming the code so that, after scanning, the customer can receive information on prices and discounts while still inside the store (or get involved in loyalty programs).
The essential advantage of GS1 Digital Link is its global inter-operation with all kinds of data carriers:
– One-dimensional and two-dimensional barcodes (ex. QR Code)
– RFID tags
– NFC(near field communication, or ‘proximity communication’) technologies, currently used for contactless payments
– other technologies (e.g., digital watermarking).
This multiplies the application possibilities, through a single bar code that can also be read at a growing number of readers at supermarket checkouts, which are already set up to read the QR Code.
Digital Link, history and prospects
GS1 Digital Link was designed with the support of brand international companies, including EVRYTHNG (an international company specializing in making connected objects through IoT technology), the giant retail Wal-Mart Store Inc, Nestlé, Unilever UK, and Carrefour. The new version 1.1 was released in February 2020, following the first official release in 2018.
‘The GS1 Digital Link standard is the link between the physical product and its digital twin. Ensuring that product data, inventory information, and digital assets for a particular product are linked together through a common identity that also unites the actual physical product is a key principle in meeting the needs of today’s consumers’ (Robert Beideman, GS1, senior vice president Solutions & Innovation). (2)
The security of information linked to this barcode evolution, as in blockchain systems, is also ensured by the possibility of granting exclusive access to certain content through authentication, differentiating recipients (e.g., organization, customers, authorities, consumers).
Dario Dongo and Marina De Nobili
Notes
(1) https://www.gs1.org/standards/gs1-digital-link
The standard is designed to find application in the health care sector as well. V. reg. EU 2017/745 on traceability of health products,
(2) GS1 Web URI – Structure Standard enabling consistent representation of GS1 identification keys within web addresses to link to online information and services. August 2018, https://www.gs1.org/docs/Digital-Link/GS1_Web_URI_Standard_i1_r_2018-07-17.pdf
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in law in Trento, she follows a master's degree in food law at Roma Tre. She is passionate about food and wine, she is between culture and tradition.
