In what could prove to be a major step forward for the travel retail industry, the European Travel Retail Confederation (ETRC) and Gebr. Heinemann hosted the initial live test of digital product labelling in its duty free shop at Hamburg Airport on Tuesday.

 

The pilot test at Hamburg Airport constituted another milestone for the trade association, since the European Commission requires a live test with passengers in addition to the presentation of a demo version.

 

The pilot project allowed travellers to visit the ETRC’s labelling website on a smartphone and scan the barcodes of ten commonly available duty free products in categories such as confectionery, alcohol, and perfume.

 

They could then review detailed product information such as nutritional facts, ingredients, allergens and information about the manufacturer in several languages.

 

As previously reported, an ETRC-hosted cocktail held at the European Parliament in Brussels on 11 July attended by TRBusiness, provided travel retail suppliers, Board members, EU parliamentarians and Commission officials the chance to test the digital solution.

 

“Our goal is to ensure that travellers are well informed and have access to relevant and helpful information about the products they would like to buy or consume,” says Inken Callsen, Director Fulfillment at Gebr. Heinemann.

 

PROVIDING MUCH-NEEDED TRANSPARENCY 

“The ETRC off-pack solution ensures that retailers and brands will be able to continue to comply with their obligation to inform travellers in accordance with EU regulations.

 

“The ETRC labelling platform is the industry-specific response to labelling challenges such as the EU food information regulation (FICR), which was originally developed for the domestic market.

 

“Reading through tiny font in up to 24 languages on the product packaging to see if, for instance, it contains a certain ingredient, can be quite exhausting. The digital off-pack solution improves transparency for duty free customers by providing easy access to essential product information.”

 

An ISO-certified customer survey accompanied the test to measure the solution’s ‘user-friendliness and functionality’ as well as the ‘needs and desires’ of participating customers accurately.

 

ETRC and Heinemann insists that a broad target group spanning numerous demographics was surveyed. The time remaining prior to test customers’ departure flight and their general technological affinity were also taken into consideration.

MORE LANGUAGES TO BE ADDED

The demo version of the ETRC labelling website is available in three common European languages: English, French, and German. This range of languages is planned to be expanded to the 24 official languages of the EU – and possibly also to include some non-EU languages such as Chinese.

 

ETRC fully supports the principle that consumers should have access to relevant and meaningful information on the products they wish to purchase and consume.

 

ETRC has been working for many years to find a pragmatic solution to providing consumers with product information in a way that meets both the requirements of the regulators and the specificities of our unique consumer, the international traveller.

 

“We are very grateful to Gebr. Heinemann for facilitating this consumer research with airport passengers in their duty free shop,” says Julie Lassaigne, ETRC Deputy Secretary General.

 

MAKING IMPROVEMENTS

“Their direct feedback is very valuable to us, in terms of making further improvements to this platform, to enable us to go ahead with this major project for the travel retail industry. The results will be consolidated and presented to our members at the upcoming ETRC Business Forum.

 

“The digital platform is an important step for our entire industry in terms of developing sustainable solutions together to address the challenges posed by increasing legal regulations for the international Travel Retail market. Our efforts are now concentrated on gaining the acceptance by EU and national policymakers for such a solution.”

 

The technical basis for the digital off-pack solution was provided by the Travel Retail Data Innovation Group (TRDIG).

 

Initiated by Gebr. Heinemann, the TRDIG assembles suppliers, retailers and service provider 1WorldSync to establish a  standard for the automated exchange of product master data between retailers, suppliers, manufacturers and distributors through one global interface.

 

ETRC also receives the product information for its labelling website from the TRDIG cloud. However, this ETRC solution is a neutral consumer interface that provides exclusively facts and information about the product.

 

Marketing and advertising are expressly prohibited on the platform, says the ETRC and Heinemann. “In principle, it is about a new generation of cooperation and about giving a face to duty free shopping by providing facts and data exchange,” adds Callsen.