Smart barcode against food waste

Wasteless, a young company that helps supermarkets keep food waste to a minimum, has entered into an effective partnership with GS1 to achieve its goal. They do this by means of smart GS1 barcodes. With this barcode, fresh products are automatically discounted on the basis of the approaching expiry date. 

Smart barcode with expiry date

One of Wasteless's solutions is the GS1 DataBar. David Kat, pioneer at Wasteless: "Wasteless's dynamic discount system works on the basis of the expiry date of fresh produce. A pricing engine uses artificial intelligence to determine the probability that a product with a fixed expiration date will be sold or that this date will expire. With the result that it would then be thrown away. Now the discounting is done manually, using procedures that were once thought of, such as the 35% discount sticker. If the stock is managed with smart GS1 Date Enabled Barcodes (such as the GS1 DataBar), a lot of profit can be made: in terms of money, time and environmental objectives. If, in addition to the article code, the expiration date is also stated in the barcode, the checkout can automatically assess how long the product can be kept and adjust the price for the consumer accordingly.

A lot of results, minimal investment

According to David Kat, the data-driven approach to food waste leads to a lot of results at a minimal investment. "If you work with dynamic prices, you can expect a return on investment of three to four hundred percent. If you avoid throwing away two salmon steaks with it, then you already have earned back the price of a shelf tag."