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HONG KONG, April 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The service industry is now growing at a rapid pace. In 2015, the service industry accounted for 50.5% of China's GDP and became the "major industry" for the first time. Consumption in particular accounted for 66.4% of economic growth. Now that consumption has become the main pillar of economic growth, an increasingly important role is played by e-commerce, which is intimately tied to consumption practices in today's China.
Developments in the Internet and information technology did not just allow e-commerce to take-off. They also brought new challenges for online merchants and e-commerce platforms. Consumers now increasingly demand high-quality products, so we have entered an age of upgraded consumption. However, it is difficult for consumers to determine whether products are genuine and of good quality on the e-commerce platform. This "sense of insecurity" is now holding back the volume of online transactions.
How can these problems be solved? A comprehensive information traceability system offers an effective solution. Under the "Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Traceability System for Important Products", issued by the General Office of the State Council, by 2020 China will establish a comprehensive set of standards for traceability systems and a national traceability system will take shape.
To respond to this acute market demand and actively support national policy, TUV Rheinland has integrated rigorous traceability services, extensive sales channels, and different media platforms to build a comprehensive traceability standard and launch the "Traceability" service. The service, targeted at industrial and agricultural products, provides background checks, product process control, a QR tracing system, logistics tracking and insurance compensation to three key groups: businesses, platforms and consumers. This will not only help consumers identify high-quality products but can help e-commerce platforms and online merchants reshape their product branding, enhance their product reputation and, in turn, boost market sales.
An Evidence-based Traceability System
Today's e-commerce platforms offer a rich selection of products from all kinds of industries ranging from everyday items to industrial goods, from ordinary products to luxury goods, and from home products to production tools. Differences in product type, nature, quantity and market means no single approach to traceability will do. For products with high added value and higher unit price, it is practical to trace every single item. For products with large volumes and low unit price, tracking by lot is more appropriate.
TUV Rheinland is therefore the first to offer a stepped traceability mode that can be tailored to each situation. For B2C platforms like Amazon, "Visualead" is used for tracking down to the "unit" level. For B2B platforms with larger volumes such as 1688 and DHgate.com, "lot number" is used for traceability.
Due to product quality and user safety considerations, on-site assessments are just the first step. The industry experts at TÜV Rheinland also conduct product risk assessments to determine the inspection method and ensure the reliability of the traceability system.
Certification and Insurance
While traceability systems can effectively monitor the safety of products on e-commerce platforms, all kinds of traceability certificates are now emerging in every field. How fair and objective are traceability certificates? Are they really professional and trustworthy? Some traceability systems have now been shown to have problems with non-standard information, inconsistent information processes and incompatible software systems. Under these conditions, it is difficult for businesses to highlight their own product quality and differentiate themselves. This makes it difficult to win the trust of consumers. All the money spent on certification and marketing are then effectively wasted.
To overcome this problem, the TUV Rheinland "Traceability" service incorporates three levels of "Protection".
First, fair and professional electronic certification provides quality products from quality businesses with strong, professional backing. Consumers can now effectively check the credibility and validity of businesses and products. This helps consumers and platforms identify quality products.
Second, the Traceability System incorporates "Time Stamps" to guarantee the validity of electronic certification on the time axis. This service is based on the trusted time stamp certification service provided by a local partner company jointly set up by the National Time Service Center of the Chinese Academy of Science and Beijing UniTrust Tech. Service Co., Ltd. The National Time Service Center is responsible for time transmission and time-accuracy monitoring. The time-accuracy monitoring function guarantees that the accuracy of the time in the time stamp has not been tampered with.
Third, the Traceability service also introduces insurance channels. Insurance companies provide "Triple-compensation for counterfeits" for traced products. This means consumers and platforms can enjoy more robust protection during consumption and purchasing.
Industrial Applications
Industrial products have begun making inroads on e-commerce platforms in recent years as well. These products are highly specialized so their requirements for product quality and tolerance are more rigorous as well. How to deliver effective and practical traceability for industrial products?
To ensure that industrial products can be traced at every critical step from the source of materials to the shipping of the final product, TUV Rheinland's traceability service examines key factors such as the legitimacy of the business, production capability, production environment, business management and platform background. Through production capacity analysis, products manufactured by a business are inspected by lot and labeled on-site. This ensures that consumers can use the QR Code engine to learn quickly and effectively about key product information.
Marketing Matrix
For businesses and platforms, the main purposes of a traceability system are to reshape product brands, enhance product reputation, and ultimately to increase a product's market sales. Large businesses are now hoping to use partner services to boost their products' market sales.
TUV Rhineland is keenly aware of what clients are ultimately looking for, so has partnered with the leading online platforms and physical vertically integrated channels. These platforms include global marketing media such as Google, portal media such as Xinhua.net, Guangdong TV, Yancheng Evening News, XKB, iWShang, imaijia.com, new media such as Analysis International, iiMedia, Go To City Media, and some independent media alliances.
Within the "Traceability" service system, businesses receive market sales support such as dedicated platform sections, traffic channeling, increased search weighting, and traceability sections for physical stores. All means are used to expand reach and sales.
For industrial products, TUV's quality selection service can also channel traffic to recommended listings. These potential channels include JD.com, Suning, DHgate, e-Canon Fair, and Amazon.
The vibrant development of the e-commerce industry means more and more products are now appearing on e-commerce platforms. This represents a major challenge to the traceability system as well. TUV Rheinland hopes to leverage its own strengths to bring greater transparency to product and business information. This will foster a sound environment for the healthy and stable development of e-commerce brands, and help bring about a healthy and sound e-commerce market.
Figure legend:
Simon Hung
Tel: +852-2192-1948
Email: Simon.Hung@tuv.com
Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20150602/8521503584LOGO
