Traceable retail meets logistics central

Traceable retail meets logistics central

Today's global economy has given consumers an endless variety of options. A few trend-setting brands are now trying to create a personal connection with their products’ origins.

September 3, 2008 11:21 by kippreport

Dubai relies on imports from around the world. Dubai is populated by people from around the world. A growing number of consumers want to be reassured their purchases are safe/ethical/green. These three realities look set to make the trend for traceable retail a real-time advantage in the Middle East.

A new generation of consumers want to know how a product was made, where it was made, who it was made by, and how it was transported to them, says Trend Central. In addition, information regarding the company’s carbon footprint, fair treatment of labor workers, and distribution methods is important to them as well.

A small but growing number of companies have begun to incorporate this type of detailed backstory information into their products, says the trend spotting site. Joining brands such as Patagonia and Timberland are Love, Earth and Icebreaker.

Love, Earth, a line of fine jewelry sold at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, allows shoppers to enter each item’s batch number online to reveal a “chain of custody” – a documentation of locations the item has traveled, from its country of origin clear through to the store it was purchased in.

Icebreaker, a sustainable merino wool clothing company, provides shoppers with a special tag that features a Baacode. Consumers can enter the code on the Icebreaker site to read about the exact sheep that provided the wool in the garment, meet the sheep farmer, and follow the garment along the supply chain from sheep to finished product.

Providing an in-depth look into the lifecycle of a product before it hits the shelf gives consumers vital information they can’t usually access, as well as some reassurance that the process in which it was made and how it came to be in their hands was a positive one.