Dutch company to implement the new GS1 Digital Link Standard

/

by Alex

GS1 Logo

FrieslandCampina wants to provide full transparency on the origins of their products to their customers.

To achieve this, they will be the first Dutch company to use the GS1 Digital Link, the new standard for tracking products online.

The new standard has been launched in the Asian market. A QR code on the packaging, allows customers to learn more about the provenance of the product, receive a confirmation that what they have purchased is in fact a genuine can of Friso baby formula and, in the future, to pay for the product directly. Based on the volume of products, this can be considered to be the world’s largest implementation of GS1 Digital Link codes to date.

FrieslandCampina’s intent is to share the journey of its baby formula directly with their customers. Together with their technology partner Kezzler, they developed an app called TrackEasy. A simple scan of the QR code directs the customer to a website providing information related to the origin history of the product. The Dutch dairy farmers can also present their farms directly to Asian customers through videos.

Rob Van Stek (FrieslandCampina) commented: “The Kezzler technology makes it easy to digitize hundreds of thousands of individual products with a GS1 Digital Link code. The TrackEasy technology delivers high flexibility and scalability, whilst keeping operational costs low. We empower parents to make a well-considered purchasing choice by providing them with full transparency.

A “one-click answer”

The same QR code can be used for digital promotional activities. The QR code uses the “GS1 Digital Link Standard”, which makes it possible to assign different types of data to the same code. By having one code that contains all the necessary information about a product, there is no need to have multiple barcodes on a single package. Finally, because it is a QR code, it does not require a dedicated app or device to be read.

GS1 Digital Link: The smart key for product information

GS1 Digital Link is the new standard that describes how to link online information to a product’s GS1 ID. An embedded web address (URL) includes the source of the information (a domain name) and the UID of the product (The GS1 code and possibly even a batch and/or serial number). This allows you to use the product ID with a batch number to find out where it was produced. It can also tell you the source of the ingredients used, as is the case with FrieslandCampina.

In addition, it is perfectly possible to include a link to, for example, product instructions or additional information for specific user groups. A dedicated app used to scan for allergens could find and display that specific bit of information about the product. Finally, incidental information can also be added to the code, for example during a product recall.

Frits van den Bos, innovation manager at GS1 Netherlands stated: “For many years there has been a link in place between GS1 ID codes and applications behind the scanner. Including these unique GS1 ID codes in the web URL makes it easier to share information about products. That is the beauty of the new GS1 Digital Link, it blurs the line between off and online information.

The GS1 Digital Link tells everyone exactly what the product is and what information about it is available. It informs the manufacturer of what information is most often requested by the customer, especially when using the structured data from GS1 and schema.org.”

Please find more information on GS1 Digital Link at: https://www.gs1.nl/nieuws/nieuws/2020/frieslandcampina-toont-consument-nieuwe-standaard-herkomst-product