New Partnership to Help Companies Reduce Counterfeit Goods Using Certified QR Code

NEENAH, Wis. and JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Feb. 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Outlook Group, one of the largest label printers in the U.S., and LocatorX, a technology company developing accurate, inexpensive and flexible tracking technology, today announced the availability of secure global location tracking to reduce losses based on counterfeit products and supply chain diversions for consumer package goods (CPG) and manufacturing companies.

Outlook Group will use its high-speed variable digital presses to print a unique LocatorX Certified QR Code on product labels/packaging, as well as for cases and pallets before they leave a client's manufacturing plant. When the Certified QR Code is scanned by a smartphone at each stop in the supply chain, manufacturers will get a secure log of inventory location to prevent product diversion to unauthorized distributors or retailers as well as ensure to retailers that their shipments are verified authentic products and not counterfeit. In the field, shoppers/consumers that scan the Certified QR code will learn information about the provenance of the serialized product in their native language as well as enjoy personalized rewards.

Counterfeit goods cost the American economy $370 billion to $570 billion and Internationally $770 to $960 billion every year, according to a 2015 report by International Chamber of Commerce's Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP). But companies also lose money on genuine goods when they can't accurately track their movement through the supply chain. Trafficking genuine goods outside of official distribution channels through unauthorized wholesalers and distributors, also known as product diversion, potentially costs makers of consumer products as much as 4.5 percent of sales, according to a study by Deloitte LLP.

A high-speed variable digital press can efficiently print custom labels with Certified QR codes on each product package. Outlook Group, an experienced data management team, has printed billions of custom linear and matrix barcodes on labels for companies in the consumer product, food & beverage, retail, and medical industries. The partnership now allows Outlook to leverage the Certified QR Code to add a security layer built on a Defineable Blockchain Log that provides manufacturers a verified ledger of all product movement and events through the entire supply chain.

"It is my pleasure to announce that Outlook Group customers can now access the secure, robust framework for inventory tracking and open up new direct to shopper/customer marketing opportunities that the Certified QR Code makes possible. We have already signed the first customer to take advantage of this partnership – a multi-billion dollar CPG brand that will utilize Outlook's broad breath of printing and packaging services and the Certified QR Code's secure log of information to prevent counterfeiting, diversion, and fraud," said Scott Fletcher, LocatorX President and CEO.

"Outlook Group is a top supplier of engineered branding and packaging solutions to the highly competitive consumer product, medical device and food & beverage industries. LocatorX's Certified QR Code allows us to augment our core offering with security and enhanced features to stand out from the competition," said Kevin Hayes, President of Outlook Group. Hayes joined the LocatorX Board of Directors in January 2018.

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