From Ordinary Codes to Extraordinary Trust | Ayush Jhawar | TEDxMoulsari Avenue

Key Concepts:

• QR Codes: Two-dimensional barcodes used for encoding information, scanning, and accessing applications.
• Digital Product Passports (DPPs): Unique identification markers (like UIDs) attached to individual products, providing traceability and information.
• Anti-Counterfeiting: Measures taken to combat the production and distribution of fake or imitation goods.
• Retailer Loyalty Programs: Incentives offered to retailers for promoting and selling specific brands or products.
• Genuineness/Authenticity Verification: Process of confirming that a product is genuine and not counterfeit.
• Traceability: The ability to track a product's origin, manufacturing process, and distribution path.
• Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG): Products that are regularly purchased by consumers, such as food, beverages, and household items.
• Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG): Products that sell quickly and at a relatively low cost.
• Fast-Moving Consumer Durables (FMCD): Durable goods that sell quickly, such as electronics and appliances.

1. The Evolution of QR Codes: From Extraordinary to Ordinary

• Invention: Masahirohara invented QR codes for auto parts to include more detail in a smaller space than barcodes allowed.
• Key Reasons for Invention:
  • Information encoding
  • Easy application access via scanning
  • Scalability
  • Cultural inheritability
• Adoption in India:
  • Demonetization: Forced adoption of digital payments and QR code scanning.
  • COVID-19: Increased use for contactless menus and payments.
• Current Applications: Ticketing, marketing, product information, and more.
• Challenges in Becoming Ordinary:
  • Technological innovation (high data capacity)
  • Cheap scalability
  • Solving a major problem (contactless payments)
  • Cultural inheritability

2. Digital Product Passports (DPPs) and Genifi's Solution

• Problem: Consumers trust packaging but need more information and assurance about product authenticity and origin.
• DPP Concept: Each product has a unique QR code (like a UID) containing information about its origin, materials, and processes.
• Example: A cola bottle with a QR code indicating it was produced in the Sandila plant in UP and its distribution path.
• Benefits of DPPs:
  • Origin traceability
  • Material traceability
  • Process traceability
  • Post-purchase support (warranty activation, complaint resolution)
• Genifi's Role: Providing enterprise SaaS solutions to consumer brands to implement DPPs.

3. Genifi's Solutions for Brands and Consumers

• Focus: Helping consumer brands solve problems related to QR codes and product information.
• Clients: Working with brands like Bisleri, WGA helmets, and Macho.
• Solutions:
  • Anti-counterfeiting: Verifying product authenticity.
  • Warranty activation: Digital activation via QR code scan.
  • Retailer loyalty programs: Incentivizing retailers directly through QR code scans.
• Genuine Mark: Genifi's brand focused on anti-counterfeiting, aiming to make authentic QR codes a standard expectation for consumers.

4. Addressing Counterfeiting and Enhancing Security

• Challenge: Counterfeiting is a significant issue, and consumers want to ensure they are buying genuine products.
• Genifi's Approach:
  • Adding layers in the supply chain to benefit brands and consumers.
  • Solving retail loyalty and traceability challenges to support genuineness verification.
• Future Innovation: Combining QR codes with digital fingerprints to make them unclonable.

5. Call to Action and Conclusion

• Request: Consumers should demand QR codes on consumer packaged goods (CPG), fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), and fast-moving consumer durables (FMCD) to ensure genuineness.
• Main Takeaway: QR codes, once extraordinary, have become ordinary and can be leveraged with DPPs to enhance product authenticity, traceability, and consumer trust.