» Labelling fines for supermarkets – QR code opportunityPlusOne

The following news highlights an important opportunity for retailers to make better use of mobile technology to better inform consumers.

qrcode
SourceIn this case the simple use of QR codes.

QRcodes, as the lovely lass is showing us, are special codes (that can be created for free) that when scanned by the code reader software that now comes with just about every smartphone.

When scanned, the code can do one of several things. It can go away and set up a data link and then display text, or go to any form of URL so pictures, video or a web page can be displayed.

In the case of the supermarkets, they can easily create a code and print onto a sticker that can be scanned – then displaying any information about the product.

Imagine being able to scan for instance the fish display and then learning about the species, and perhaps where it was caught, when it was caught and maybe even when it arrived in-store. Even further, they could have some recipes!

This can be done for all manner of fresh food, and implementation is relatively simple and the information delivered by the codes can be updates thus minimising the effort needed to replace codes with new deliveries.

The NSW Food Authority slapped the supermarket giants with fines for incorrectly labelling imported fruit as Australian produce in two Sydney stores.

A Woolworths store in Newington was fined $1540 after being caught selling lemons from the USA as Australian grown, while a Coles outlet in St Marys received an $880 ticket for a similar infringement involving grapefruit from Israel.

Both have been placed on the NSW Food Authority’s Name and Shame register for 12 months.

Woolworths announced today it was changing its country of origin labelling.

Source: Labelling fines for supermarkets – Weekly Times Now.