Woolies tackles sustainability and transparency with the help of 2D barcodes

Remember the dinner you enjoyed last night? I probably had the homemade spaghetti bolognese with salad on the side, followed by fresh strawberry ice cream.

When you chose minced beef, tomatoes, garlic and onions for your bolognese, and strawberries, cucumbers and tomatoes at the supermarket, did you know where the ingredients came from? Either it came from strawberry farms, or the grass-fed cows came from pastures in the rural town of Mullumbimby.

After all, it is becoming increasingly important for many customers to recognize the provenance of their food. , providing shoppers with valuable information on sustainability.

Woolworths senior project manager Roberto Olivares said:

“For our customers, this means fewer errors between varieties, faster transaction times at the cash register, and more accurate and faster identification of products. It means that products can be scanned and weighed.”

What is a 2D barcode?

2D barcodes are an exciting new technology that store a wealth of information about an item’s supply chain, from product identification and storage options to recycling instructions and country of origin. Unlike traditional 1D linear barcodes, it is more compact, freeing up space on packs for other uses by brand owners or removing excess packaging to save costs and reduce waste You can

2D barcodes also benefit the entire supply chain, including manufacturers, retailers, distributors, solution partners and consumers. For example, when a cashier scans a product, they can immediately see if the product has passed its expiration date, making it easier for retailers to manage store inventory. Barcodes also help reduce food waste.

According to GS1, “A single scan of these next-generation barcodes will connect business partners up and down the supply chain to the data they need for inventory management, traceability programs, sustainability initiatives, consumer engagement actions, and more. I can.”

how it started and how it’s progressing

In August 2019, Woolies began piloting 2D barcodes on fresh meat and poultry products, making it easy to identify each item’s batch, supplier and expiration date. Since then, supermarkets have moved to his 2D barcodes, and as of earlier this year, his 50% of meat products in over 1,000 stores were using barcodes.

As a result of moving to 2D barcodes, Woolworths has reduced food waste by up to 40%. Store teams can quickly identify if a product is nearing its expiration date and proactively reduce prices so it can be sold without wasting it. According to the retailer, his productivity has increased by 21%.

Meanwhile, 2D barcodes have enabled Woolworths to carry out product recalls quickly and accurately. 2D barcodes can be used to correctly identify the correct product to remove from the shelf so other unaffected products can continue to be sold.

Richard Plunkett, General Manager of Business Enablement at Woolworths, said:

For more information on 2DBarcodes by GS1, please visit: www.gs1au.org/2d-barcodes