Orca Scan’s GS1 digital link adopted by JUX Food for beta testing
Barcode tracking technology company Orca Scan has announced a partnership with the industry’s standard-setter, GS1 UK, to aid retailers and brands in replacing traditional barcodes on their product packaging with new GS1 Digital Link QR codes.
Orca Scan is spearheading an innovative smart solution to simplify the migration to Digital Link, helping brands accelerate the adoption of the new standard because, after 50 years, the traditional 1D (one-dimensional) barcodes will be phased out by 2027.
Barcode technology first made its impact on business productivity in the late 1970s, yet due to the complexity and high costs associated with implementing enterprise barcode solutions, the majority of organisations still rely on pen, paper and spreadsheets to manage their assets and inventory. Orca Scan was designed to dramatically simplify and lower the cost of enterprise barcode solutions to make barcode tracking technology available to all, regardless of company size or budget, by leveraging cloud computing and the smartphone we’re all carrying in our pockets.
Guildhall-based Orca Scan is the first GS1-approved platform to integrate with GS1 fully, ensuring detailed product information is open and available to all supply chain systems. GS1 Digital Link will impact retail and supply chains as trillions of products will have a unique web page, editable in real-time. For the first time, consumers will go beyond the packaging to get the information they need when they need it. By pointing a smartphone camera at the digital QR code, consumers can instantly access product-related videos, nutritional information, ingredient details, sustainability and recycling information, get recipe ideas, access how-to guides and quickly connect to the brands’ social media.
The information the retailer displays is configurable from the web page, from where you can add fields, synchronise data, and configure hundreds of devices remotely from any web browser.
One of the many suppliers who have adopted digital QR codes into their packaging is JUX Foods, a graduate of the Cambridge Accelerate programme – as is Orca Scan, which was founded in 2016 and known as Cambridge App Lab until the name change in 2022.
JUX’s super-ingredients are part of its nutrition revolution ambition, and are marketed to ensure everyone has easy access to “a nutritious, sustainable and plant-rich diet”.
Founder Anna Wood says of the new standard: “It is a fantastic tool to help empower consumers with more information. The QR codes help with building their confidence in purchasing, as we can relay extra information that previously would have been limited by label space.”
John Doherty, CEO of Orca Scan, said: “Our solution will eliminate consumers’ reliance on search engines for product information, eradicate the need for brands to send product details to retailers via spreadsheets, and negate the pre-reloading of databases with product data in point of sale and warehouse management systems.
“We are excited to bring Orca Scan’s hyper-focus on simplicity to accelerate its adoption.”
As the project moves into beta testing, the Orca Scan team is calling out to any Cambridge brands who would like to be on board ahead of its official launch next year.
