Total Produce is aiming to revolutionise the way fresh produce on the supermarket shelves is marketed to consumers across Europe with the launch of a range of new packs that incorporate special QR (quick response) barcodes.
The technology can deliver a wealth of product and lifestyle information to anyone scanning the code with their mobile smartphone.
The Total Produce Smartpack concept, which is being rolled out across a full range of TOP-branded packs, will direct consumers who scan the QR codes to a new consumer website, topfruit.com.
Each QR code is specific to the product on which it appears and offers immediate, user-friendly information about the product that has been scanned.
Vincent Dolan, marketing manager at Total Produce told Fruitnet.com: “A curious consumer confronted by a kiwano on the supermarket shelf, for example, need only scan the QR code, pressing two buttons on a smartphone, to instantly access a specially made three-minute instructional video - or ‘Fruit Byte’ - to find out all they need to know about the fruit.
“For the first time, answers to key consumer questions concerning fresh produce - What are these? How do I prepare these? Why are these good for me? What can I use this in? - are immediately available to the consumer at point of purchase, preparation or consumption.”
A wide range of Fruit Bytes have been filmed in order to address the questions most frequently raised by consumers.
On exotic produce, for example, the videos focus on the basics: preparation, usage, taste and recipe ideas.
Additional videos, typically applied to the more familiar product lines, offer more general advice to consumers, such as ‘10 tips to increase your children’s consumption of fruit’, for example, or guidance as to what exactly constitutes a fruit portion.
Other Fruit Bytes currently in development include a series focusing on local growers, offering an access-all-areas pass for consumers who are curious about fresh produce’s route to market.
All of the content available via the QR barcodes can also be accessed on the website itself, which has been built specifically to address areas that were found to be of interest during recent research carried out by Total Produce.
The website’s features include an extensive video library, nutritional advice and recipes.
Professional broadcasters Paula Mee, an Irish nutritionist, and Rozanne Stevens, a South African chef, are set to provide new and additional content on a regular basis, ensuring that information is kept relevant, up to date and always focused on the consumer.
An accompanying Facebook page, meanwhile, will be used to circulate weekly nutritional guidance and a Recipes of the Week video each Friday.
Dolan said the Smartpacks offered an innovative and customer-friendly means of disseminating information and educating consumers, therefore increasing the chance of repeat purchases.
“Creatively satisfying the consumer’s appetite for ever more information on fresh produce lines has long been cited as an opportunity for our industry,” he suggested.
“These Smartpacks make this information instantly accessible and differentiate the produce on our retail partners shelves. We’re very proud to be at the forefront of the next generation of fresh produce marketing.”
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