Get Ready for More Information about Product Origin

Point of origin is important for consumers, manufacturers, retailers, and governments. Technology and infrastructure are evolving to increase access to accurate point of origin information.

Consumers care where a product was made. Consumers of a given country are often more likely to buy a product that was made in their own country. For some products, consumers associate special value to specific countries and country of origin is becoming an important brand. For example, Columbia invests in consumer awareness of it coffee, Switzerland invests in consumer awareness of a range of products such as watches, and Volkswagen promotes German origin as a desirable attribute for cars. In some cases, not only country but region is an important distinction for consumers; some consumers want smoked salmon not from Canada, but from Nova Scotia or sparkling wine not from France, but from Champagne.

Because consumers care where a product was made, it’s important for manufacturers and retailers to communicate point of origin or point of manufacture to consumers. Manufacturers and retailers know consumers will favor goods from their home country and in some cases pay a premium for goods from a particular country or region. They spend money to promote the value of goods from a particular region, and those who can give consumers confidence in point of origin will be able to obtain a superior return.

Governments invest in their national brands, and maintaining integrity in point of origin information is important for protecting the brand. Governments want to enforce trade restrictions (e.g., United States does not allow the import of highly desirable cigars from Cuba) and keep accurate statistics on imports and exports (e.g., United States Department of Commerce restrictions). Governments want to collect import and value added taxes fairly and efficiently. Finally, governments want to control and track movement of some valuable commodities, such as antiquities and nuclear material.

The infrastructure and technology to confirm point of origin is developing to the stage where businesses and governments can begin to incorporate into their plans an increasing awareness and ability to track point of origin. Goods are increasingly identified with RFID tags and pass through intelligent portals when entering a leaving a country, warehouse, truck, or ship. Additionally, in-store hand held RFID readers are also being deployed. The Electronic Product Code transmitted by RFID tags can be used to confirm the origin of the product.

With point of origin information becoming increasingly available, branding and consumer awareness of micro-geographies will increase. For example, Consumers will always be pleased to know that their coffee comes from Columbia, but will be fascinated to know the specific grower who produced the coffee, and the growing techniques used by that grower. As the technology and infrastructure continues to develop, a whole new world of origin awareness is on its way.