Comerso Partners with Anyline to Launch Zero-Waste Barcode Scanning App
Did you know that one-third of all food produced in the world does not end up on a plate? That means one-third of the global food production chain, from farming to factories, logistics to refrigeration – unnecessarily generates greenhouse gases (GHG) every day. According to the NGO Drawdown, this means food waste is responsible for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions in the world.
The goal of Comerso is to harness digital technologies to bring this number down. Acting as the “middle solution” between retailers and various charities, services, and food waste management organizations, Comerso empowers businesses to transition to a zero-waste model, which unlocks new value from unsold goods and waste to other stakeholders.
Comerso's Vision
Comerso enables retailers to identify unsold and out-of-date products by scanning their barcodes, and then connects them to a network of possible recipients. But while identifying products proved successful, the use of intrinsic hardware, on the other hand, proved to be limiting. The high cost of single-purpose devices, as well as the additional onboarding process, made scaling the solution a challenge.
To solve this problem. Comerso began to explore the software solutions which could deliver the same enterprise quality barcode scanning on a mobile app. This approach would give Comerso a much more agile and scalable business model, while still offering the top-notch accuracy and performance levels that are expected in the retail industry.
The Anyline Solution
Comerso decided to integrate Anyline’s industry-leading mobile barcode scanning SDK into their new app Now, Comerso’s customers can optimize the remarketing of products that are approaching their expiry dates, directly from their own mobile devices. With this new ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) approach, Comerso has significantly improved its ability to scale its services, providing the solution to many more retail providers given the new model and low barrier to entry for users.
Profitability has also been given room to grow as they have completely eliminated the high cost of their single-use 2D laser scanners and associated maintenance costs.
“Retailers today understand the benefits of transitioning to a ‘zero waste’ model; it’s good for the environment, for wider society and for their bottom line. But many are held back by concerns over how to organize the distribution of unsold goods. Now, it’s as easy as downloading an app!”
Moving forward, Anyline and Comerso will continue to expand their collaboration. In the near future, the firms plan to release a further innovation that will allow retailers to scan the expiry dates of products on shelves so ensure out-of-date produce is removed and redistributed.
“We are proud to support Comerso in the fight against waste. With this intuitive app, retailers can realize the full value of their unsold products, while also meeting legal and CSR obligations to eliminate waste and reduce CO2 emissions.”
