The retail tech revolution is hurtling towards us at an alarming rate. With Digital Product Passport (DPP) legislation currently set to come into force by 2028, retailers worldwide are facing a huge, challenging labeling overhaul project. And it couldn't be happening at a better time — consumer shopping habits and preferences are increasingly trending towards more immersive, personalized, and tech-forward experiences. Whichever way you look at it, interactive labels are a must.
This begs the question: if you're upgrading your labels to accommodate DPP legislation, how do you know which interactive retail tech to choose? Which will deliver the biggest value, suit your brand, serve your customers, and increase engagement? Our labeling experts share three key things to consider.
Retail tech: DPP legislation, customer engagement, and more
Bringing retail tech into your garment labeling isn't a case of 'if' but 'when.’ Upcoming DPP legislation mandates that any business selling into the EU market must equip each product with its own unique Digital Product Passport, which should be accessible to customers through a 'DPP carrier' — a scannable label that maintains an accurate record of the product's sustainability information for the garment's entire lifecycle.
Read: Everything you need to know about DPP legislation
Being DPP compliant will mean overhauling apparel labels to include an interactive element that connects consumers to a digital source of information. At the time of writing, retailers are considering two main types of retail tech for their DPP carrier labels: QR codes and NFC technology.
QR code labels can be scanned using a smartphone camera and are a relatively simple, low-cost option to roll out. NFC labels are more expensive but offer potentially greater levels of customization and engagement, while some see them as easier to use. While DPP legislation is the catalyst for interactive labeling in retail, there are many other reasons brands are choosing to adopt it.
Retail technology can make it super easy to deliver incredible shopping experiences without any extra legwork. For example, you could use smartphone-scannable NFC tech combined with the awesome inventory accuracy of RFID to help customers find related items or locate and purchase garment sizes or colors unavailable in your brick-and-mortar store for home delivery or in-store pickup. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
Read: 4 ways garment labeling could propel your brand into the future of retail
Although QR codes and NFC inlays are objectively effective pieces of retail tech, failing to make accessibility considerations as part of your project plan could lead to a wasted investment. Here are three considerations to make when choosing your tech to ensure everyone can use and enjoy it.
Accessible labels: 3 things to consider when assessing retail tech
1. Target customers
The first and most important consideration should be your target customers. The aim of DPP legislation (and indeed, the whole customer engagement bit!) is to give quick and easy access to sustainability information. Although QR codes represent the more affordable option and are easy to produce at scale, they might be tricky for your customers to use or even see.
Before you start planning how to integrate retail tech into your labels, you could send out a customer survey to get intel directly from your most loyal and long-term shoppers. You could also deep dive into your customer data, analyze their shopping habits and see if you can identify which tech option would best suit them. Could you modify the labels to give more explicit instructions, add braille, introduce color QR codes, or adapt in-store signage to help? It's all worth considering!
2. Product type
Your choice of retail tech might also be dictated by the products you’re tagging. For maximum accessibility, your interactive labels should be easy to spot, scan, and feel intuitive in their placement. For DPP legislation, your label should also withstand wear and tear and be scannable even after washing.
How much space do you have to work with? Do you need larger QR codes for visually impaired shoppers, or are you tagging a small space that would benefit from a specialist inlay? These are all considerations your labeling partner can help with.
Read: The ultimate RFID tagging guide – best practices for general merchandise
3. Long-term business plan
Are you using your retail tech purely for DPP legislation, or do you want to get more ROI from your investment by upgrading to unlock a ton of additional intelligent labeling benefits? If you are choosing to utilize the tech for more than just DPP compliance, where might you take it in the future and which tech is best suited to help you get there? It's all worth considering!
It's also a good idea to consider your brand and values when making your choice. How will this evolve, and how might your retail tech choice add to that journey? When putting down a huge investment of time and money in a labeling project, you want to make sure you've made a future-proof choice. This also includes looking into new innovations that can help make the interactive experience more accessible to your customers. Do you need an option that gives you space to evolve your approach without heavy disruption in the future?
Planning your accessible labeling project
When dealing with a labeling project of this size and complexity, you’ll want a knowledgeable, experienced party on board. A team that's rolled out multiple labeling projects over the decades and faced almost every challenge, roadblock, and complexity imaginable. We are, of course, referring to ourselves (but in a humble way).
Our team of apparel labeling experts at Checkpoint haven’t just been working with interactive retail tech for years but have also developed and manufactured it in-house. No two projects or clients are ever the same, which means we start from scratch each time, choosing a solution tailored to that client and their goals. Accessibility considerations can be baked into the process as a top goal, so you aren’t playing an expensive guessing game with the potential to isolate some shoppers from the interactive experience.
Reach out to our apparel labeling team today and find out more about accessibility considerations you may need to make for your brand labeling project. Our pros have seen it all and are happy to share what they know. Your new labels will be incredible — let’s make sure everyone can enjoy them!
