Global research firm Gartner believes that by 2025, 20% of the top 10 global grocers by revenue will be using blockchain for food safety and traceability to create visibility to production, quality, and freshness.
In a recent press release, the company notes that annual grocery sales are on the rise in all regions worldwide, with an emphasis on fast, fresh prepared foods. What’s more, customer understanding has increased for the source of the food, the provider’s sustainability initiative, and overall freshness. Grocery retailers who provide visibility and can certify their products according to certain standards will win the trust and loyalty of consumers.
“Blockchain can help deliver confidence to a grocer’s customers, and build and retain trust and loyalty. Grocery retailers are trialing and looking to adopt blockchain technology to provide transparency for their products. Additionally, understanding and pinpointing the product source quickly may be used internally, for example, to identify products included in a recall,” said Joanne Joilet, senior research director at Gartner.
Blockchain appears as an ideal technology to foster transparency and visibility along the food supply chain. Encryption capabilities on the food source, quality, transit temperature, and freshness can be used to ensure that the data is accurate and will give confidence to both consumers and retailers.
Some grocers have already been experimenting with blockchain and Gartner expects their numbers to grow in the near future. For example, Unilever and Nestle, are both using blockchain to trace food contamination. Alternatively, Carrefour France started giving customers access to blockchain data for the Mousline puree last month.
“Similar to how the financial services industry has used blockchain, grocers will evolve best practices as they apply blockchain capabilities to their ecosystem. Grocers also have the opportunity to be part of the advancement of blockchain as they develop new use cases for important causes for health, safety and sustainability,” Joilet further explained.
