10 Steps To Scale QR Codes In Grocery Retail

A new report from ECR Retail Loss sets out a clear, practical roadmap for how 2D/QR codes with embedded expiry dates can transform grocery retail — cutting food waste, reducing losses, supporting compliance, and ultimately helping businesses sell more and lose less.

Benefits

The benefits are substantial. By embedding expiry data into scannable 2D/QR codes, retailers can:

• Block expired items from being sold — meaning shoppers are never sold an out-of-date product again
• Gain real-time visibility of product freshness
• Enable dynamic markdowns and smarter replenishment

But while the technology is ready, scaling adoption across the grocery sector will require coordinated effort.

That’s why this new report, Scaling QR Codes with Embedded Date Codes, outlines 10 critical steps to accelerate adoption by 2030.

The framework is the result of a major collaborative exercise involving more than 60 food waste experts, including representatives from 25 retailers and academics from five universities, who worked together to map out the industry-wide conditions needed for success.

The 10 Critical Steps:

1. Support regulatory requirements – QR codes can help retailers comply with emerging food safety and waste reduction laws
2. Make food waste a strategic priority – Progress depends on C-suite buy-in and cross-company investment
3. Standardisation across the industry – The sooner that retailers and industry bodies (inc CGF and FMI) agree end-to-end standardisation of 2D/QR codes powered by GS1, the faster adoption will accelerate
4. Appoint a clear internal owner – Assigning a “Directly Responsible Individual” (DRI) helps drive momentum across functions
5. Build a business case – Define success, measure ROI, allocate costs and measure benefits for all stakeholders
6. Ensure tech readiness – From POS to ERP, update systems so they can read and act on QR code data
7. Engage internal teams – Train staff. Roll out tools, and build capacity to embed QR code use into new daily routines
8. Prepare suppliers and partners – Prepare the entire supply chain – from label printers to fresh food vendors. Help them buy into your vision.
9. Build consumer trust – Show how QR codes can offer real value to customers. From checkout accuracy to added product info
10. Think inclusivity – Ensure systems work for all users — including smaller suppliers and offline shoppers

“QR codes are not just a technology upgrade — they represent a fundamental shift in how retailers manage freshness, compliance, and profitability,” says John Fonteijn, Chair of ECR Retail Loss, Aholddelhaize. “This report provides a clear roadmap to help grocery businesses transition successfully by 2030.”

“This report is not intended to be definitive, exhaustive or the only version of the truth. But as a starting point for further discussion it should be a useful checklist for retailers looking to adopt this technology. And for industry bodies looking to speed up adoption of this game-changing new technology.”

Rosemary Brotchie, Senior Manager, Health and Sustainability, The Consumer Goods Forum adds, “The findings of this report on 2D/QR code implementation make a valuable contribution to help the industry tackle food waste.”

“It’s encouraging to see clear, practical steps laid out to support wider adoption, and we will continue to work with industry partners in the CGF Food Waste Coalition to drive scalable solutions for a more sustainable future.”

The report’s findings were also endorsed by Doug Baker, Vice President Industry Relations for FMI. “As consumers increasingly seek transparency and the food retail industry strives to reduce waste in the supply chain, QR codes will play a pivotal role in delivering on these commitments, we believe this new report offers retailers a step by step guide towards a scaled deployment across the fresh categories in grocery retail.”

Elena Tomanovich, Senior Director, Industry Engagement at GS1 also supports the report’s findings. “We are excited about the potential for this research to drive global, industry-wide changes in fresh foods retailing.”

“Next generation barcodes such as the QR Code powered by GS1 and GS1 DataMatrix are game-changers to help block the sale of products with additional data. Once fully deployed, shoppers will not buy an out of date product again.”

The full report is available for download at Scaling QR Codes with Embedded Date Codes | ECR Retail Loss