First Local Food Retail Chain Draws on GS1 QR Code to Connect Front- & Back-Office
Background
Specialised in chill and frozen ready-meal, “Eat East” now offers over 100 kinds of products from rice, noodles, congee, to snacks and vegetables. It is renewing its product packaging in recent months aimed to strengthen promotions and increase popularity.
Solution
The new packaging include GS1 HK’s 2D barcode “1QR”, which allows consumers to access product details, certifications, offers and more. Staff can scan the same QR with the upgraded POS system for checkout, while identifying expiring or expired food items.
Benefits
"1QR” helps “Eat East” interact with smartphone-savvy customers and roll out promotions in a cost-effective way. Storekeeper can scan the '1QR' to swiftly identify expired products, improving efficiency and accuracy while reducing food safety risks, meanwhile enhancing stock in-out management.
Background
Founded by Sun Generation Ltd. 23 years ago in 2001, “Eat East” is specialised in chill and frozen ready-meal with flagship products like meal box and sweet soup. Available in Hong Kong, China and Macau, “Eat East” has expanded its sales network to convenience stores, supermarkets and institutional sectors in recent years.
With its own factory, "Eat East" adheres to industry best practices in areas like R&D, production and quality, ensuring all products are of highest quality and safety standards. To highlight its quality and brand concept "Eat whenever and wherever you want", the company draws on the power of “1QR”, a GS1 next generation 2D barcode, not just to facilitate check-out and product management, but also boost customer engagement, especially for the mobile-savvy young segments.
Solution – Supporting Operations and Promotion with 1QR
Offering more than 100 kinds of food products from rice, noodles, congees, to snacks and vegetables, “Eat East” is gradually replacing its old product packaging with new ones, which include “1QR”, a GS1 Digital Link standard-based QR code. Consumers can easily scan the code with mobile to access product details, such as origin, ingredients, nutritional information, certifications, etc, which helps build consumer trust and caters to the QR scanning trend.
One Code, Countless Offers
With the same QR code, the company can update its product and promotional offers through the back-end system, such as providing e-coupon during festive seasons, without changing packaging. It helps update customers with the latest info and engage in a cost-effective way, appealing to the young and old customers.
Enhanced Management
“Eat East” has recently upgraded its retail equipment across the city by deploying QR code-compatible POS (point-of-sale) system. Upon scanning expiring products, the system would know and give off alert to staff and customers, keeping customers away from potential risk and prevent possible complaint. During stock-take, staff are able to identify expiring products and offer discount for clearance, which helps reduce wastage and drive sales. The company hopes to upgrade the equipment at all branches and the warehouse equipment to improve efficiency in in-out shipments, stock replenishment, connecting the end-to-end supply chain.
Benefits
GS1 HK’s “1QR” enhances Eat East’s overall business operations by
- Serves multiple purposes with a single QR, like check-out, expiry date management, sharing of product information, etc.
- Offers different sales promotions in different times
- Nurture affection and drive consumption with the young
We are committed to providing our customers with a variety of high-quality foods, so they can eat safely every day. ‘1QR’ helps us convey food product information such as origin, nutrition, ingredients, certifications to customers in a convenient and effective way, and provide latest updates on new products and promotional offers, which help enhance customer loyalty, confidence and engagement. As leveraging technology to enhance brand marketing and management takes reign in market, we are training and empowering our staff with the skills necessary to providing quality products and services to our customers amid this retail’s digital transformation tides.
Raymond Tung
Assistant General Manager
GS1 standards used or solution (s) /service (s) used
GS1 standards used or solution (s) /service (s) used
- 1QR
Company Background
The well-known Hong Kong brand "Eat East" was established in 2001 by Sunshine Generation Limited. The company now operates 19 directly managed stores in Hong Kong, also listed on supermarket chains and convenience stores aimed to facilitate customers’ purchase.
