How can grocery retailers keep up with increasingly complex supply chains while ensuring freshness, compliance, and customer trust?
To address these challenges, Kezzler experts working with Switzerland’s largest supermarket chain share their insights on scaling grocery traceability with EPCIS 2.0. This Q&A explores the technical hurdles, the role of GS1 standards, and the real business benefits of event-based traceability.
Want to hear the full discussion with Kezzler’s specialists?
Why traceability matters in grocery retail
Grocery supply chains are more complex than ever. Retailers need to answer urgent questions:
- What’s on this pallet, where does it come from, where is it going, and when does it expire?
- Has everything I ordered actually shipped?
- Where are the weak spots in my supply chain?
Traditional transaction-based data (purchase orders, invoices) can’t always answer these questions fast enough. That’s where event-based traceability comes in.
What is event-based traceability?
Transactional data focuses on the results of a business process (what was ordered, sold, or shipped), e.g. what purchase order number was received. In contrast, event-based traceability is much more granular, as it tracks the individual steps of a specific object’s (product, case, pallet) journey. It creates a detailed, real-time narrative of the product by capturing what it is, where it is, when it moved, and why (the specific business step, like packing, shipping, or receiving). This provides a real-time picture of products and how they move through the supply chain.
Instead of just recording transactions (what was ordered, sold, or shipped), event-based traceability records each event in a product’s journey:
- What product it is,
- Where it is,
- When it moved,
- and Why (the business step, e.g., packing, shipping, receiving).
This provides a real-time, shared picture of the supply chain.
EPCIS 2.0: From transactions to events
“Transaction repositories focus on what you ordered or shipped. Event data focuses on the lots and pallets actually moving through your supply chain – making it much easier to answer the questions grocery retailers care about.” – Kris Ray, Solution architect
GS1’s EPCIS 2.0 standard makes this possible, providing a common language for supply chain partners to share real-time event data.
Key benefits for fresh food retailers
Event-based traceability has unique value in grocery retail, where speed and accuracy are everything.
- Reduce waste: Act on expiry data before products reach shelves.
- Accelerate recalls: Near real-time visibility to act within hours, not days, and targeted to the relevant batch(es) of products.
- Improve quality: Use sensor data to identify why some suppliers consistently deliver fresher products.
- Boost operational efficiency: Less manual work, fewer errors, better service levels.
“What you don’t see, you cannot improve. EPCIS 2.0 shines a light on supply chains, enabling faster and better decisions.” – Hans Petter Hübert
How Switzerland’s largest retailer is scaling traceability
One of the forty largest retailers in the world is building a shared data platform with Kezzler’s event repository. This allows suppliers, distributors, and retailers to connect through one interoperable platform – reducing silos and enabling collaboration.
Kezzler’s role:
- Enrich and interpret raw EPCIS events.
- Build lineage across transformations (from farm to fork).
- Deliver actionable insights – not just data.
This means grocery operators can quickly answer questions like: What’s on this pallet? How soon will it expire? Do I need to repack inventory at the distribution center? Where is this pallet going? When will store X receive it?
Looking ahead: The future of traceability
The experts agree: in the next decade, event-based traceability will become the norm. From batch-level today to item-level tomorrow, retailers will use GS1 2D barcodes and digital twins to unlock consumer engagement, circularity, and sustainability.
“Over the next 10 years, a single vocabulary for supply chains will spread like a common currency – making it easier for partners to collaborate and innovate.” – Cyrus Gilbert-Rolfe
Access the full expert Q&A
You might also find this interesting
- Our solution brief “The power of GS1’s EPCIS 2.0 standard”
- Our blog post “Why transformation events are the future of traceability”