The luxury sector is increasingly integrating connected packaging solutions to enhance consumer engagement, ensure regulatory compliance, and protect brand integrity. Technologies like QR codes, NFC tags, and Digital Product Passports (DPPs) are transforming traditional packaging and products into interactive platforms that offer consumers enriched experiences that go beyond the initial value of the physical item.

There are many benefits to implementing a globally scalable ID management platform to manage and deploy QR code and NFC campaigns at scale, while integrating seamlessly with GS1 standards, Digital Product Passports (DPPs) and meeting regulatory requirements. Below we have outlined some key considerations.

EU Regulations: Ensuring Compliance in Luxury Goods

Luxury products within the European Union are subject to stringent regulations to ensure safety, authenticity, and proper labelling: 

• Jewellery: Compliance with the REACH regulation is mandatory, limiting hazardous substances like lead and nickel in jewellery items. Proper labelling must include material composition and any potential allergens to inform consumers.  

• Handbags: Products must adhere to labelling requirements that specify material content, country of origin, and care instructions. 

• Watches: While specific EU regulations for watches focus on accuracy and safety standards, labelling must provide clear information about materials, especially if precious metals are used. 

Meeting regulatory compliance by giving consumers the information that they need, when they need it, can involve detailed information being crammed into labels, and tags, but a connected approach can transform this transactional and compliance focused activity into a brand experience for the user that can underpin a brand’s heritage, beliefs and values.

How Connected Packaging Enhances Consumer Engagement

Connected packaging offers luxury brands innovative avenues to deepen consumer relationships, through a range of different consumer applications and experiences. These include: 

• Product Authentication: By integrating unique digital identifiers, consumers can verify the authenticity of luxury items, safeguarding against counterfeits.  (See more info below).  

• Brand Storytelling: Scanning a QR code or tapping an NFC can unlock content detailing the craftsmanship, heritage, and design inspiration behind a product, enriching the consumer’s connection to the brand. 

• Exclusive Experiences: Access to personalised services, such as virtual try-ons or bespoke customisation options, can be facilitated through connected packaging, enhancing the luxury experience. 

• Gifting: Using a digital trigger like an NFC or QR code, consumers can add personalised messages to items – via video, text or image. These items can then be gifted and the messages ‘redeemed’ by the recipient, heightening the gifting experience.

Case Study: Levis x GANNI

Levi’s and GANNI created connected product stories for their pioneering clothes rental programme. NFC tags in the iconic Levi's back-patch in the collection allowed consumers to discover the journey of the rental jeans through product stories, with each renter able to add their own messages for the next, as well as access care tips. See more here.

Case Study: Balmain x Pokémon

Luxury fashion brand Balmain Paris added NFC tags to jackets and patches in its Balmain x Pokémon range that enable purchasers to unlock rewards and access an immersive digital experience by tapping the tag with their Apple or Android NFC smartphone. See more here.

Case Study: JW Anderson

JW Anderson used its pop-up store in Selfridges to create an AR ‘Pleasure Garden’ with blooming flowers, roaming wildlife, and sprouting mushrooms that came to life as users moved around. Each moment brought urban dwellers back to nature, which they could then share on their social media. See more here.

Brand Protection: Combating Counterfeits with Connected Packaging

The luxury industry faces significant challenges with counterfeit products. Just last year Fortune magazine reported that: “Prada and Dior counterfeits are soaring in popularity because Gen Z is trying to ‘achieve a sense of social equality’”. And Forbes magazine reported that the counterfeit shoe market alone was valued at $600bn and the counterfeit watch market valued at over $9bn. In this environment, connected packaging can serve as a robust defence mechanism - some of the key considerations include: 

• Product Authentication: Unique digital identifiers embedded in packaging allow consumers and retailers to verify product authenticity instantly, deterring counterfeiters. These can be delivered using QR code, authenticating to the cloud via two factor authentication or via NFC. 

• Supply Chain Transparency: Connected packaging enables tracking of products throughout the supply chain, ensuring transparency and reducing the risk of counterfeit goods entering the market.  

• Digital Product Passports (DPPs): Implementing DPPs provides a comprehensive digital record of a product’s lifecycle, from raw material sourcing to manufacturing processes, enhancing transparency and supporting anti-counterfeiting measures.  

• Blockchain Technology: Leveraging blockchain ensures immutable records of product origin and journey, allowing consumers to verify authenticity instantly. 

These measures not only help to protect consumers from fakes and protect brands, but they also support the growing fashion circularity movement by providing an important level of trust for consumers that the recycled / second hand luxury items they are buying are authentic.

Digital Product Passports (DPPs) and the Future of Transparency in the Luxury Industry

A key element in the growth of circularity is the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), which entered into force on 18 July 2024. It is the cornerstone of the European Commission’s approach to more environmentally sustainable and circular products. The ESPR will introduce a Digital Product Passport (DPP), a digital identity card for products, components, and materials, which will store relevant information to support products’ sustainability, promote their circularity and strengthen legal compliance.

This information will be accessible electronically, making it easier for consumers, manufacturers, and authorities to make more informed decisions related to sustainability, circularity and regulatory compliance. It will also allow custom authorities to perform automatic checks on the existence and authenticity of the DPPs of imported products.

Information to be included in the DPP will be identified by the Commission, in close consultation with all relevant stakeholders, and will depend on the specific product in question. Digital Product Passports will be applied to prioritised industries that include batteries & vehicles, textiles, electronics & ICT, furniture, plastics, construction and chemicals, with an expectation that they will be rolled out by 2030. 

Roadmap for Adopting Connected Packaging in the Luxury Industry 

1. Assess Regulatory Requirements: Understand and align with EU regulations related to packaging, labelling, and product safety.  

2. Select Appropriate Technologies: Choose digital technologies (e.g. QR codes, NFC tags) that align with your brand’s objectives and consumer preferences. 

3. Prepare for Digital Product Passports: Begin collecting and organising product data to comply with upcoming DPP requirements, ensuring transparency and sustainability. 

4. Develop Engaging Content: Create interactive and valuable content accessible through connected packaging to enhance consumer engagement. 

5. Implement Authentication Measures: Incorporate features that allow consumers to verify product authenticity, protecting against counterfeiting. 

6. Monitor and Iterate: Collect consumer feedback and analyse engagement metrics to refine connected packaging strategies continuously. 

Embracing connected packaging is a strategic imperative for luxury brands aiming to comply with regulations, engage consumers, and protect brand integrity in an increasingly digital and transparent marketplace.

If you're a luxury brand looking for help with your regulatory compliance and consumer engagement - get in touch and we can talk you through our platform io.tt or even start you on a free trial.