SmartLabel Provides Increased Transparency

06.25.19

App can provide data on nearly 60,000 products via SmartPhone

Jim Flannery, CEO of SummitVentures, gave a presentation on the development and implementation of the SmartLabel program, which allows consumers to access information on thousands of products with the use of their smartphone. The SmartLabel app uses the phone's camera to scan the products' ISBN codes which will bring the consumer to information like nutrition information, ingredients, usage instructions, third party certficiations and more. "It is really up to the company how much information they want to provide," Flannery told attenddess at the WOW conference in Atlanta, GA.

First launched in late 2016, SmartLabel has grown to include information on 60,000 items from 57 companies and 892 brands, Flannery said, noting that brands and products that participate in SmartLabel are growing 10% more quickly than those that do not. "I don't know exactly what is driving growth but they are growing," he adds.

Ingredient transparency has become an important consumer requirement in many product categories. Currently, the American Cleaning Institute (ACI) and its companies are working to create a national standard on product labeling requirements. Meanwhile, at least six states are proposing mandatory ingredients listings on feminine hygiene items.

Flannery predicts that the number of products involved in SmartLabel will reach 93,000 by 2020.