In the AgriFood industry, it is difficult to track fresh produce along the supply chain due to disconnected visibility. Because of the multiple players involved, critical data regarding product quality is often not shared efficiently between stages in the supply chain.
Often, buyers and retailers have no visibility on fresh produce products during pre-shipment. Quality issues will only be raised upon goods arrival, making it challenging to ensure consistently good quality supply. Receiving poor quality produce results in rejection-related loss of sales and food waste that can easily amount to thousands of dollars.
Food Waste Generated by Retailers Worldwide
In the US, grocery retailers generate a whopping 13% of total food waste, totalling a 10.5 million tonnes that go into landfills annually. Meanwhile, in the EU, supermarkets account for 5% of the food waste problem, sparking a pledge by the EU to cut food waste in half by 2030.
In Singapore, a central warehouse of a supermarket chain rejects about 15 to 20 pallets worth of fresh produce every day, typically due to not meeting product quality specifications agreed upon with suppliers. Each pallet can contain anywhere between 500kg and one tonne of produce.
How Receiving Poor Quality Fresh Produce Costs Retailers
A Container of Fresh Produce can value between US$50,000 to US$150,000. When Retailers receive fresh produce that does not meet their product quality specifications, it negatively impacts their inventory and sales.
Loss in sales – where the rejection of fresh produce leads to a decrease in their stock count and inability to fill the floor
Incurred costs not recovered – especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, the rises in freight costs are at an all-time high making goods rejection even more costly
In a typical fresh produce trade, buyers and retailers have no visibility on the conditions of the goods that were packed and loaded pre-shipment. This makes it difficult for them to efficiently respond to inventory changes caused by quality issues.
Based on a Real-Life Case Study on Moving Fresh Produce
Programme for 15 containers of fresh grapes from supplier to a supermarket buyer
Lack of visibility on pre-shipment quality from the supplier to retailer
8 out of 15 containers rejected due to quality issues and poor container unloading conditions
Inefficient communication between Quality Control team and Commercial team regarding quality
Loss of sales from 8 containers amounted to over USD$520,000
Entire programme had to be cancelled and discontinued
No Data, No Visibility
Often, retail stores receive goods that do not fulfil order specifications or products that have some form of quality issues. Moreover, the defects are only known when the fruit or produce has arrived due to a lack of product visibility along the supply chain. This makes trade managing fresh produce challenging for retailers:
Unable to see pre-shipment product quality and container loading
Unable to quickly respond to inventory changes due to rejections from quality defects
Unable to communicate defects easily and effectively between internal teams
Introducing DiMuto’s Solution
DiMuto’s 8 Product Features
See the full picture with Insightful Trade Data
From Produce, Trade to Market, DiMutoAgriFood Trade Solutions have 8 key Product Features that help you gain visibility of the in-betweens in your supply chain.
DiMuto’s All-In-One Platform
An all-in-one, farm to fork platform – Our 8 Product Features include:
Farm Management
DiMuto Maximize farm efficiency and profitability, read more.
Production Management
DiMuto Organize, track and trace your production, read more.
Trade Management
DiMuto ensures that you are in control of your trades with full visibility, read more
Inspection & Standards Management
DiMuto Organise, digitize and verify product quality, read more.
EmVend Marketplace
DiMuto helps you to Enter new markets and grow your exports, read more.
SMART Marketing
DiMuto helps differentiate your brand with traceability, read more.
Payment Management
Stay on top of your trade payments & settlements ,read more.
Financial Services
DiMuto helps to protect your trades with insurance, read more.
How DiMuto Helps
DiMuto’s Pre-Shipment Quality & Trade Info
DiMuto’s Inspection Module
DiMuto makes all parts of the trade easily visible and accessible to relevant teams within the Retailer.With Trade Management, the commercial, QC, shipping team can access pertinent trade documents and data.
DiMuto’s Inspection and Standard Management
DiMuto Inspection Management helps digitalize the QC process and allows a more efficient way to standardize, record and evaluate quality inspections for optimal product quality.
DiMuto Creates Trade Visibility for “The Messy Middle”
DiMuto’s Accessibility of Pre-Shipment and Post-Shipment Quality
With DiMuto, Retailers can now enjoy accessible visibility of pre-shipment and post-shipment quality to better manage any potential loss of sales
Pre-shipment product quality down to every single carton easily accessible to commercial team
Trade information, documents and actions of each trade seamlessly recorded and presented in timeline view
Post-shipment product quality efficiently captured and communicated between QC, commercial and retail teams
Dashboard view of Inspection Management to ensure optimal product quality and vendor performance
If you are interested to learn more about how DiMuto helps Agri-Food businesses leverage on an increased visibility of Pre-Shipment and Post-Shipment Product Quality, please reach us here or drop us an email at [email protected].
How Blockchain, AI and IoT Simplifies AgriFood Product Quality for a more efficient, sustainable and transparent food supply chain
In today’s society, AgriFood trading practices have evolved to keep up with consumer demands of high quality, safe and sustainable food products. A key tool to help AgriFood businesses to meet this demand is blockchain.
The use of blockchain technology has become an essential tool to ensure efficiency and transparency for AgriFood trade transactions. Additionally, understanding food provenance is becoming more prevalent among end-consumers, making it critical for AgriFood businesses to better understand, manage and communicate product movement from farm to fork.
What is blockchain technology?
Blockchain is a shared distributed ledger technology that allows users to share verified, immutable information with each other. In this way, blockchain helps agrifood supply chain stakeholders to share trusted information with each other for each trade transaction, allowing the tracking of food provenance and the building of a more visible, efficient and transparent supply chain.
Blockchain can be used for applications such as improving food quality control throughout AgriFood supply chains.
Using Blockchain, AI and IoT to Improve Product Quality Control
Studies have shown that fruits and vegetables are thrown away due to unsuitable storage and shipment conditions. For instance, in Central and Southern Asia, losses in transport can be as much as 30% of the overall yield, a huge amount of waste.
As AgriFood products are transported along the food supply chain, they often take different routes and go through numerous handlers. This means that the ability to track the produce across the supply chain is challenging, making it difficult to ensure optimal product quality. This is particularly critical in the fresh produce industry where ensuring quality is key to maximizing shelf life.
The challenges that AgriFood businesses need to overcome to assure product quality are:
Processing large quantities of trade, product and document information
Underutilizing valuable technology
Keeping track of product information
Optimizing processes that ascertain product quality information
How DiMuto uses Blockchain, AI and IoT to ensure Product Quality
DiMuto uses blockchain technology along with Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to determine product quality in an objective and simplified manner.
DiMuto transforms the way of assuring product quality by following four steps:
Utilizing IoT technology in our Digitial Asset Creation (DACKY) Devices to capture product data, down to every single carton, throughout the supply chain
Organizing the collected data to be accessible, readable and understandable by different users on our Trade Solutions Platform
Enhancing the collected data with more insights using AI
Data gets saved on the blockchain to ensure immutability
DiMuto DACKY devices capturing pre-shipment carton information at various packing facilities.
Visual Images of each carton of AgriFood product is then automatically uploaded onto the DiMuto Platform, and associated with each trade transaction so that the product, quality control and sales teams across the AgriFood organization can access these data easily.
DiMuto AI and Machine Learning then enhances the information gathered to provide useful insights using predictive models and analysis, this process will procure important product information to assess on its quality score:
Product Identification
Product Size
Product Quantity
Product Quality
Watch the above video to learn how DiMuto uses AI to determine pre and post shipment product quality
The insightful data will be stored on the blockchain, ensuring security and immutability through a decentralized node network.
There is a risk of a single point of failure with the current practice of keeping important information in a centralized server. The data in blockchain, on the other hand, is spread among all nodes in the network. As a result, it prohibits the system from being controlled by a central authority. Thus, accessibility to product quality information is invariably simple and secure.
This will help to determine the product quality of AgriFood products in a more efficient manner, helping AgriFood businesses to better control food quality at various stages of the supply chain.
With DiMuto’s solution, AgriFood companies can reduce food wastage due to more visible, efficient and reliable product quality controls along the supply chain and take the next step towards food sustainability.
If you are interested to learn more about how DiMuto helps AgriFood companies to utilize blockchain and other technology for a more efficient and sustainable supply chain, please reach us here or drop us an email at [email protected].
[PRESS RELEASE]
AgriFood Trade Solution DiMuto Raises US$2.35million Series A Funding to Advance Its Global Network and Agri-financial Services
DiMuto, a global AgriFood trade solutions company from Singapore, bags US$2.35million in Series A funding led by The Yield Lab Asia Pacific. The Yield Lab is joined by SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, PT Great Giant Pineapple, Patrick Vizzone, Ocean Crests Investments, and Asia Capital Pioneers Group. Existing investors include SGInnovate and Latin Leap. DiMuto is also a portfolio company of PwC Singapore’s Venture Hub’s programme.
The latest funding validates recent progress and significant market opportunity, enabling DiMuto to scale up product development and meet growing demand for AgriFood trade visibility and trade financing.
DiMuto’s AgriFood trade solution unifies product, document and payments on a single platform, tracking the flow of goods along with respective flow of payments and creating a data-driven foundation for business visibility, trade financing, and insurance.
DiMuto’s AgriFood financing services tackle the US$1.9 Trillion global trade finance gap, estimated by experts to be as high as US$3.4 Trillion due to Covid-19, by making trade financing accessible to unbanked Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in AgriFood trade thathave long faced difficulties accessing formal financing due to factors like creditworthiness, collateral requirements, short-term liquidity, and political or currency risk.
By using proprietary technology developed using blockchain, cloud, IoT and AI to create combined visibility between movement of goods and movement of money on DiMuto Platform, DiMuto enables primary data collection for valuable insights allowing AgriFood business leaders to better manage their supply chain in a more efficient and sustainable manner.
Singapore, 21 September 2021 – DiMuto, a global AgriFood trade solutions company that provides end-to-end supply chain visibility for global AgriFood trade, today announced its successful US$2.35million Series A raise. This round was led by globally prominent AgTech investor The Yield Lab Asia Pacific with participation from SEEDS Capital, the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, PT Great Giant Pineapple, Patrick Vizzone, Ocean Crest Investments and Asia Capital Pioneers Group. This round follows DiMuto’s pre-series funding in 2019 and 2020, which saw investments from SGInnovate and Latin Leap.
The Series A raise validates the company’s recent progress and significant market opportunity, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Funds raised will enable DiMuto to scale up product development and meet the growing demand for AgriFood trade visibility as well as trade financing.
Creating product and data visibility for global AgriFood trade, DiMuto offers AgriFood supply chain stakeholders such as farmers, packers, exporters, traders, wholesalers, and retailers the ability to see the flow of goods and the flow of money associated with the flow of goods on a single Super Platform. DiMuto effectively adds value by providing business intelligence with its ecosystem of applications and modules so that AgriFood companies can optimize their operations. The Super Platform generates up to 30% price premiums for traceable products as well as reduces up to 50% losses arising from trade disputes for its customers.
“DiMuto was really born out of my dual experiences of operating in the Finance world for 15 years and operating a global fresh fruits and vegetables marketer and distributor. During my ten-year stint in the food industry, I realized there’s an urgent need for business leaders to be able to see all aspects of their business right down to the granular detail of each box, each payment, and each receipt, as well as see the auxiliary service providers supporting their operations. Being able to capture and have the visual confirmation of such business data on a single platform helps business leaders run the organization better,” said Gary Loh, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DiMuto.
DiMuto’s AgriFood trade solutions offer greater visibility through end-to-end global food supply chains, providing AgriFood business leaders with actionable insights that help them better manage their supply chain, both more efficiently and more sustainably. Complex yet siloed food supply chains have made it challenging for companies to maximize value from their supply chains and ensure adherence to green and sustainable practices. Globally, as revealed by a study from logistics company GEODIS, as many as 62% of companies worldwide have limited visibility of their supply chain, with only 15% of companies having visibility on “just in time” production and only 6% reporting full visibility.
“The Yield Lab is always looking for high-impact start-ups with technology solutions that sustainably revolutionizes the Global AgriFood system. The benefits achieved in finding new innovation to increase yield in food production can only be felt if that food that is harvested, and processed, enters an efficient supply chain. The need for transparency of trade from farm to fork has long been discussed and desired, but yet still is not widely adopted. What DiMuto has developed is technology that affordably integrates data into actionable insights, tracking the state of the trade while simultaneously providing meaningful value to each of the different constituents along the supply chain. For the retailers, distributors, insurers, and the providers of transportation and with trade financing, with DiMuto finally a safe, efficient, accountable, and sustainable supply chain is now within everyone’s reach” said Claire Pribula, Co-founder and Managing Director of The Yield Lab Asia Pacific. “The fragility of global supply chains was made evident at the height of the COVID pandemic, causing significant supply chain disruptions. DiMuto provides the ability to smooth out irregularities, increasing the shelf life and diminishing food waste.”
“Asia Capital Pioneers Group sees immense potential for trade technology solutions like DiMuto. There are also synergies with our investment in payments fintech Aleta Planet, whose account issuance capabilities can power DiMuto’s e-wallet, to plug the payment component within DiMuto’s ecosystem. We believe this can be scaled to a much larger audience across the globe and are excited to be a part of this avant-garde technology,” said Mr. Ryan Gwee, Chairman of Asia Capital Pioneers Group.
With its Produce, Trade and Market modules, DiMuto provides visibility on product quality, documents, and payment records for each stage of the supply chain. From pre-shipment farm production through to post-shipment product receipts, DiMuto enables AgriFood companies to fully see their supply chain, providing essential quantitative data that helps them to monitor and manage Environmental, Social and Governmental (ESG) risks across their global supply chains. The ability to capture and organize such data also helps DiMuto’s financing services to verify that ESG standards are met as part of its green finance and impact investing initiative.
“PT Great Giant Pineapple prides ourselves on our green agricultural practices and putting our farmers at the heart of what we do. Having the ability to visualise our operations all on a single platform will certainly enable a global company like ours to better run our business and improve on our mission. We believe that data visibility and supply chain digitalization is the next forefront of the AgriFood industry, and we are excited to support the application of DiMuto’s solutions,” said Husodo Angkosubroto, majority shareholder of PT Great Giant Pineapple. PT Great Giant Pineapple is one of the top three producers of pineapples worldwide supplying of the world’s canned pineapples, with businesses involving fresh produce distribution and export as well.
By using its proprietary technology developed using IOT, cloud, blockchain and AI to create combined visibility between movement of goods and movement of money on the DiMuto Platform, The Company has further developed its own Proprietary Visual Inspection Module to help standardise the specification of fresh produce using AI. DiMuto thus enables primary data collection for valuable insights allowing AgriFood business leaders to better manage their supply chain in a more efficient and sustainable manner.
DiMuto’s unique ability to digitalize and unify product, document and payment on a single platform helps form a more accurate profile of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that is data-driven, and trade-centric, enabling SMEs to access alternative trade financing opportunities. Globally, the current US$1.9 Trillion trade finance gap is estimated, by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), to increase to US$3.4 trillion due to Covid-19. The trade financing gap has hit SMEs the hardest, with over 40% of trade finance applications by SMEs being rejected, as stated by Asian Development Bank (ADB). Despite being the largest contributor to the economy and employment, SMEs struggle to obtain financing from traditional institutions, due to factors such as creditworthiness, collateral requirements, short-term liquidity, and political or currency risks. Helping to counter these factors, DiMuto has developed its proprietary TRADE HEALTH AI module to generate a grading score and a credit score to manage the credit risk of the trade. Based on this, DiMuto will be able to fill the trade financing gap by offering financing for its AgriFood customers.
Despite Covid-19, DiMuto has executed implementations in Indonesia, China, South Africa, Ghana, Malaysia, Kenya, and Colombia over the last six months, with 25 more projects in the pipeline. The company has specifically designed their proprietary digitalization devices, otherwise known as a Digital Asset Creation device (DACKY), in the form of a flyaway kit that enables implementation on the ground to be easily completed in as short as one week.
“I am truly humbled and honoured to have such a broad group of stakeholders, resulting in a unique combination of people and organization to solve a truly global problem of food waste and trade visibility. By removing the friction and inefficiency, we are focusing the use of data to truly build a more Green and sustainable future,” Loh adds. In the near future, the company expects rapid growth with existing and new client partners, providing DiMuto with a key opportunity to expand DiMuto’s portfolio and trade financing applications. -end-
About The Yield Lab The Yield Lab Asia Pacific is an AgTech focused fund and part of the global The Yield Lab network of regional Funds based in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Created in 2014 as the first early-stage Seed and Series A fund devoted to identifying and advancing Agriculture industry innovation. Managed by industry experienced teams who have the knowledge, relationships and vision to stimulate, invest and scale sustainable AgTech innovations, The Yield Lab invests across all Agriculture sectors: Crop Production, Animal Health, Precision Agriculture, Sustainability, Supply Chain and Food Ingredients, in order to deliver financial results alongside positive impacts that solve the global problem of feeding 10B people by 2050 sustainably. For further information please visit: www.theyieldlab.asia
About SEEDS Capital As the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, SEEDS Capital catalyses smart investments into innovative Singapore-based startups with strong intellectual content and global market potential. We co-invest with independent investors in innovative startups. We help our startups commercialize and expand globally through leveraging on the expertise and strategic networks of our co-investment partners in areas such as technology translation, commercialization and market expansion. Through co-investments, SEEDS Capital aims to catalyze investments into nascent and strategic sectors. These include Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering, Health & Biomedical Sciences, Urban Solutions & Sustainability, and Services & Digital Economy.
About PT Great Giant Pineapple PT Great Giant Pineapple (GGP) has become the largest private label manufacturer of canned pineapples in the world and a prominent source of premium pineapples and fresh fruits. The company currently exports more than 15,000 containers to over 60 countries worldwide and has a representative company in the USA, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. Boasting extensive plantations, one in every four canned pineapples in the world today originates from GGP. Aside from canned pineapple, pineapple jam, pineapple cubes in cups, and pineapple juice concentrate, GGP also produce canned tropical fruit cocktail. For further information, visit www.greatgiantpineapple.com
About Asia Capital Pioneers Group Founded in 2011, Asia Capital Pioneers Group started as a Hong Kong-based family office to provide wealth management and legacy planning for some of Asia’s wealthiest families. It has developed a reputation of delivering above-market returns for its clients, through global investments within high growth industries such as real estate and fintech. As the controlling shareholder for several investments such as Songdo International Business District and payments fintech Aleta Planet, Asia Capital Pioneers Group has leveraged its management expertise, global connections, and business know-how to multiply the value of its investments. It also seeks to identify cross-synergies between its investment vehicles for greater efficiencies and business growth. For further information, visit www.asiacapitalpg.com
About DiMuto DiMuto simplifies every step of global AgriFood trade. From produce, to trade, to market, our AgriFood Trade Solutions help growers, exporters and importers to trade efficiently with better visibility and finance. Equipped with a data-backed growth roadmap, companies can now navigate the complex global trade landscape with ease and focus on what matters – growing a thriving international business. With Visible Trade, DiMuto powers companies and the world forward with confidence. Since 2019, DiMuto has successfully tracked and traced millions of pieces of produce and millions in dollars of trade value on the DiMuto platform, working with a global portfolio of clients in over ten countries on five continents.
DiMuto is founded by Chief Executive Officer Mr Gary Loh, who is also the Executive Chairman of First Alverstone Group. For more information, please visit www.dimuto.io ## For media queries, please contact: HuiMin Lee Email: [email protected]
[Joint Press Release DiMuto – OPAL]
DiMuto and OPAL Announce Agrifood Fintech Partnership to Tackle Trillion Dollar Global Trade Finance Gap
DiMuto, a global trade solutions platform, joins forces with OPAL, a Major Payment Institution (MPI) providing money transfer solutions, to conduct agrifood trade payments on the blockchain
The partnership will see a DiMuto Payment module that allows direct payment on the DiMuto Platform, enabling visibility of movement of money according to trades conducted and tracked on the platform
The new payment module will leverage OPAL’s expertise in payment and financing solutions for SMEs that include multi-currency cross-border transactions, with highly competitive Fx rates that is cheaper than conventional methods, as well as ability to conduct safe and secure transactions to over 100 countries
The digital payments collaboration between the two firms will form the foundation for DiMuto’s trade financing solution targeted at servicing unbanked Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the agri-perishable sector
Covid-19 has worsened the US$1.9 trillion global trade finance gap, estimated by experts to be as high as US$3.4 trillion now, with SMEs in emerging economies being hardest hit. SMEs have long faced difficulties accessing formal financing due to factors like creditworthiness, collateral requirements, short-term liquidity, and political or currency risk.
By using technology like blockchain, cloud, IoT and AI to create combined visibility between movement of goods and movement of money on DiMuto Platform, DiMuto enables primary data collection for valuable insights into trade health and credit score, reducing financing risks and making trade financing more accessible for SMEs.
Singapore, 26 April 2021 – DiMuto, a global agri-fintech trade solutions company that provides end-to-end supply chain visibility for global agrifood trade, has partnered with OPAL, a Major Payment Institution (MPI) licensed by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), to provide payment services on the blockchain-powered DiMuto Platform. The two companies are collaborating to bring together the strengths of both companies to innovate and transform the future of payments and financing in the agrifood trade space. Working together provides an exciting opportunity to leverage OPAL’s expertise in international payment, multi- currency wallets, FX management and financing solutions alongside DiMuto’s strong network of agrifood clientele, robust trade digitalization technology and capability to collect asset- based data.
DiMuto and OPAL will develop a new first-of-its-kind payment module that will allow DiMuto’s agrifood customers to make payments directly tagged to the movement of goods on the DiMuto Platform, creating visibility of both the movement of goods and money for physical agrifood products tracked with DiMuto’s existing trade digitalization technology.
The DiMuto Payment module taps on OPAL’s expertise in servicing SMEs with payment and financing solutions. OPAL aims to be One Account for Payments and Loans (OPAL) for SMEs, by simplifying payment processes, lowering fees and providing easier access to financing. OPAL is able to facilitate safe and secure cross-border transactions in over 100 financial corridors with multi-currency accounts and competitive Fx rates that are cheaper than conventional banking methods. With the new DiMuto Payment module, DiMuto’s agrifood customers will be able to conduct transactions that are in full compliance with Singapore regulations and international AML/CFT standards.
“We are excited to bring our experience in the financial, payments and technology industry to the collaboration with DiMuto. The partnership gives OPAL an opportunity to reach more small and medium businesses globally, particularly in the agrifood and perishables trade, that have not been serviced by traditional banking institutions. We look forward to helping them accelerate their growth with complex payments made easy,” said Lim Ming Wang, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of OPAL.
The digital payments collaboration establishes the first step to DiMuto’s trade financing solution for the unbanked SMEs in the agri-perishables sector that have traditionally been unable to access financing from conventional banking institutions. Despite being the largest contributors to employment and economic development, SMEs have struggled to obtain formal financing, due to factors including creditworthiness, collateral requirements, short- term liquidity, and political or currency risks. Asian Development Bank (ADB) found that over 40% of trade finance applications by SMEs are rejected and the global trade finance gap is a staggering US$1.5 trillion in 2019 and is projected by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to increase to US$3.4 trillion due to Covid-19. The exponential trade finance gap impedes the effort to reduce poverty and minimize inequality, two of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
By capturing and developing primary trade data through trade digitalization, DiMuto effectively reduces the risks associated with trade financing. With both visibility of movement of physical goods and movement of money on the DiMuto Platform, DiMuto can now further develop data-driven agrifood asset financing.
“At DiMuto, our vision is to power global agrifood trade with visibility. We have built a powerful platform that combines IoT, cloud, blockchain, and AI technology in our journey to bring visibility to global trade,” said Gary Loh, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DiMuto. “By partnering OPAL to enable direct payments on our platform, we are moving closer to this goal as this creates a complete solution tying the movement of goods to the movement of money. With this, we can transform global trade by tackling the financing needs of the unbanked agrifood market.”
The partnership between DiMuto and OPAL will enable trade that traditional trade finance cannot effectively support. DiMuto is implementing AI, machine learning capabilities, and new predictive analytic algorithms for valuable insights into the trade health and credit score of agrifood companies to develop alternative financing and insurance services for the global agrifood market.
Lim Ming Wang, Co-Founder and COO of OPAL, with Gary Loh, Founder and CEO of DiMuto at the MoU Signing Ceremony
-end-
About OPAL
OPAL is a leading provider of end-to-end, regulated payment solutions based on a robust, proven platform and proprietary technology. Founded by a team of seasoned professionals with significant experience in financial solutions, banking, regulatory issues, cross-border payments and money management, OPAL offers a broad set of financial solutions to help clients meet their diverse needs in today’s ever-changing financial and business environment. OPAL is licensed as a Major Payment Institution (MPI) by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
DiMuto provides agrifood companies with data they can see and trust, down to every single product of every trade, where they can easily see all that is happening for every trade transaction in an organized manner, on one single platform.
DiMuto simplifies every step of global trade – from produce, trade to market, DiMuto provide sales, marketing, operations, financing and insurance tools so businesses can trade better. Equipped with a data-backed growth roadmap, companies can now navigate the complex global trade landscape with ease and focus on what matters – growing a thriving international business.
With Visible Trade, DiMuto powers companies and the world forward with confidence.
Since 2019, DiMuto has successfully tracked and traced over millions of pieces in produce and millions in dollars of trade value on our platform, working with a global portfolio of clients in over ten countries and five continents. DiMuto is founded by Chief Executive Officer Mr Gary Loh, who is also the Executive Chairman of First Alverstone Group. For more information, please visit www.dimuto.io.
It has been a year of living with the Covid-19 pandemic, and it has impacted consumer preferences and business practices when it comes to food sustainability and food labelling.
Clean Labels are a key trend this year – As countries around the world enter various states of lockdowns, more consumers are looking to buy healthier, more sustainable foods to cook at home, turning their attention to food labels for information on the origin and ingredients. Between 2013 and 2018, sales of products with sustainability claims increased 29%, according to a study by NYU Stern center for Sustainable Businesses and IRI.
Consumer’s Distrust of Sustainable Labels
Yet, consumers are not finding the information they need or trust on the labels. In Singapore, while 35% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable alternatives, 23% do not trust the sustainability claims of businesses. In the US, a FoodThink study showed nearly half of consumers who regularly buy food for their households do not trust the industry to do the right thing. Worldwide, due to the lack of transparent product-level information, there has been increased skepticism amongst consumers that brands are simply greenwashing their products.
This problem is evidenced by the low level of influence current sustainable label packaging has on consumer food choices. Research has shown that while consumers view sustainability as an important issue, when it comes to individual food choices, sustainable logos do not play a major role in consumers’ food choices.
One explanation for this curious paradox might be that consumers do not trust current sustainability labels. In his book Organic: a journalist’s quest to discover the truth behind food labeling, Peter Laufer details how sustainability labels are hardly regulated and untransparent, making it difficult for consumers to verify these labels.
Sustainability Certification is Not Enough
At the same time, the disruption of global food supply chains caused by the pandemic has renewed the impetus for businesses to make their supply chains more sustainable and resilient. Increasingly, they are turning to certifications as a way to show consumers that they are taking active steps to address sustainability.
While effective in ensuring the adoption of more sustainable practices in certified entities, it is clear that sustainable certification alone is not enough.
Due to the complexity of modern food supply chains, there is an inherent disconnect between sustainability practices done on the upstream at the farm, and the product data that the end consumers at the tail end of the supply chain receives. There is thus a need for fully transparent sustainability labels that is able to show sufficient provenance information.
DiMuto Traceability Labels
With DiMuto, agrifood companies can now track food products from farm to fork, combining the physical product movement along with documentation.
This visibility can be achieved down to each individual product and carton, by labelling every product and carton with the DiMuto Traceability Label. Product movement through critical supply chain milestones like the packing, transport and receiving stages is then tracked on the blockchain and combined with relevant certificates and trade documents. This ensures an immutable, holistic view of product provenance.
DiMuto Traceability label
All these traceability information tracked can be easily communicated to consumers using the same label. By simply scanning the DiMuto QR code on food products like fresh fruits and produce, consumers are brought to DiMuto SMART Marketing Product Page, where they can now view the DiMuto Product Passport.
The DiMuto Product Passport
With the DiMuto Product Passport, consumers are able to access a passport showing verified, important provenance data related to the product that they just purchased. Supply chain data tracked on the blockchain-powered DiMuto Platform can now be succinctly shared as part of the DiMuto SMART Marketing Product Page.
DiMuto Product Passport
They can view and verify product-related certificates such as organic certifications using the Singapore-government backed third-part validation tool TradeTrust. (To learn more about how DiMuto uses TradeTrust, click here) Consumers can also access the product movement timeline showing each supply chain milestone.
Not only so, the SMART Marketing Product Page allows brands to do more than just share verified traceability data. Brands can also communicate their brand story, sharing more regarding where the fruit was grown, and how the process is organic, sustainable or fair-trade, and even get feedback or host campaigns on the same page.
DiMuto SMART Marketing
With this, agrifood businesses can now easily communicate their product-level traceability information to end consumers. DiMuto can help companies improve consumers’ trust in their sustainability labels. It is likely we will see more consumers make sustainable food choices with transparent, verified sustainability labels, helping to make the global food supply a truly sustainable one.
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If you are interested to learn more about our solutions, please contact [email protected].
The Problem with Trade Documents in Global Trade
In today’s digital age, it may be surprising that the document trail for international trade is still very much physical.
Due to the complex nature of cross-border trade transactions, there are often many different parties involved across multiple geographies involved, most of whom use fragmented systems that do not harmonize with each other. The continuance of paper-based processes persists because currently there is no easy way to verify the authenticity of these trade documents.
Manual, physical documents are the default for international trade
Time and money spent on paperwork continues to be a significant cost of conducting cross-border trade – Research done by IBM and Maersk has shown that the costs associated with trade documents processing can cost up to one-fifth of the actual physical transportation costs. Today, exporters need to dispatch the physical documents to consignee in their destination markets, despite having already sent the documents on other digital channels like emails and messaging applications. Thus, it is not uncommon that the goods can be shipped faster than the documents are processed.
The usage of physical trade documents inherently poses a high level of risk, mainly from falsified documentation. According to CNBC article, there has been a rise in falsified trade documents in the last five to ten years. High-tech photocopiers can duplicate trade documents like the bill of lading, in the original ink colours, and add fake information.
Due to the difficulty of distinguishing the real documents from forged ones, fake documents can be used to obtain loans from the banks and increases the risks for all involved parties including legitimate buyers and financial institutions providing trade financing services. The 2020 high-profile case of trade finance fraud by Hin Leong Trading, a Singaporean oil trading company that allegedly forged an email and documents, is proof that reliance on physical documents is a huge vulnerability. The adeptness of forgers are forcing banks like OCBC to look into going digital and using blockchain for the US$9 trillion global trade finance industry.
What is TradeTrust?
Together with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Singapore government launched TradeTrust, a set of globally-accepted standards and frameworks that is connected to a public blockchain supporting the exchange of electronic trade documents between governments and businesses.
TradeTrust aims to digitalize global trade and eliminate the inefficiencies caused by manual trade documents and verification processes. TradeTrust works to ensure there is legal harmonisation across multiple countries and jurisdiction for legal validity of digital trade documents, and promote internationally accepted standards that facilitates interoperability of digital documents exchanged across platforms.
Most recently, the Australian Border Force (ABF) started a blockchain trial with Singapore Customs and Singapore Infocomm media Development Authority (IMDA) to digitally verify electronic Certificates of Origin (COO).
How DiMuto uses TradeTrust
The Tradetrust verification is integrated onto the DiMuto Platform. Trade documents that are uploaded onto the DiMuto Platform are automatically pushed onto TradeTrust, allowing users and relevant parties to verify the authenticity of their documents.
When a trade document is uploaded on the DiMuto platform, it is identified uniquely by a Document Hash and saved as a signed TradeTrust JSON file – this JSON file serves as a unique fingerprint that is then recorded on the public Ethereum blockchain.
DiMuto’s Trade Contract Timeline captures the documents uploaded and our platform automatically creates a TradeTrust identifier that can be easily verified
This record will be visible on the DiMuto platform to users and relevant trade parties, who can then drag and drop this JSON file onto tradetrust.io and verify the file.
Users will be able to see that a DiMuto certificate of authenticity that verifies the document has been uploaded on the blockchain
Due to the usage of the public blockchain, this allows any relevant parties that have this JSON.file to verify the validity of the trade document on TradeTrust, creating greater level of trust in digital trade documents. By integrating TradeTrust onto our system, DiMuto helps to create trust between trade partners and strengthens the validity of the digital trade documents.
This can help government agencies and authorities that issue certificates and want to verify the validity of these certificates. For instance, agricultural ministries that issue Certificate of Origins, and global certification bodies like the Global G.A.P that is recognized in over 100 countries, can simply utilize TradeTrust verification tool to verify certificates that have been uploaded on the DiMuto platform. Due to the unique identifying quality of the TradeTrust file, as well as the immutability from using the public blockchain, this can significantly reduce the room for fraudulent certification and speed up the time it takes to verify certificates, reducing the friction brought about by physical documents for global trade.
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If you are interested to learn more about our solutions, please contact [email protected].
It is likely that the pandemic will not be resolved overnight in its second year running. While Covid-19 has caused disruptive shocks to global food supply chains around the world at first, more lasting effects of the virus can definitely be felt on the agricultural and agtech landscape for the rest of 2021.
Renewed Focus on Sustainability
Sustainability and sustainable recovery are the latest buzzwords when it comes to discussion on how a post-covid world would look like, given the mainstream thought that climate change may have played a contributing role to the rise of the pandemic – many factors that cause climate change increases the risk of pandemics according to Harvard Chan C-CHANGE.
For consumers, this has translated to an increased focus on sustainable foods and clean labels.
Research by Palsgaard A/S has shown that four in ten consumers view environmental concerns are now more important when making food purchases since covid-19, and that two-thirds of consumers would be more willing to buy products from a company if they knew it used sustainably sourced ingredients.
Consumer reading food label at the supermarket
At the same time, there has been more consumer demand for clean label foods, foods that are made as naturally as possible with simple, easily recognizable ingredients that are produced in a manner that is healthy for the planet as well.
According to Mordor Intelligence, sales of clean label ingredients are projected to grow 6.75% annually to $51.1 billion by 2024, with the impact of COVID-19 pushing sales figures higher.
This will likely see suppliers and manufacturers ramp up on sustainability in their sourcing, production and supply chain processes, and communicating this to consumers through branding and marketing in 2021 and beyond.
Doubling Down on Food Traceability & “Messy Middle” Supply Chain
Covid-19 food scares have been aplenty since the pandemic’s onset, with China halting imports of European salmon after traces of the coronavirus had been found on chopping boards used for imported salmon at the Xinfadi market, commonly thought to be the epicentre of the initial outbreak.
That caused Chinese consumers to avoid salmon, hitting the industry hard.
Fresh Cherries
Most recently in January this year, there were claims on Chinese social media that Chilean cherries contained traces of the virus. The inner packaging of the batch of cherries tested covid-19 positive, and all unsold cherries from the same batch in Wuxi, the Jiangsu Province, have been collected and are ready for destruction, which could potentially result in massive food waste.
Although there still exists much uncertainty over the validity of these claims and the origins of the affected cherries, the whole imported fruits industry in China has been badly affected. In particular, cherry prices have plunged 90% and sellers have to resort to showing certificates of nucleic acid tests to help boost sales.
Thus, blockchain and its application for recording verified, immutable information from all stakeholders of the supply chain will definitely be a contender as part of the solution.
At the same time, product digitization will need to happen in order for food traceability to be fully effective. This gives industry players the ability to confirm the quality of the product as it moves along the supply chain, particularly through the “Messy Middle”.
Fintech For Food
It is no secret that working capital is a source of friction in global food trade. Due to the seasonality of the industry, agribusinesses have significant short-term working capital needs in the form of advances to farmers and huge inventory.
We’ve previously talked about how supply chain visibility is vital for cash flow management of agribusinesses in Covid-19. At the same time, this supply chain visibility also has potential for tapping on the unbanked or underbanked Messy Middle agribusinesses, who often are unable to obtain financing for their trades due to the industry being deemed too risky, too complex and opaque, and provide them alternative financing opportunities.
Technologies like blockchain, digital wallets and e-currencies also help to establish trust and facilitate transparency that break down the barriers to trade financing access for the agriculture industry. These have already made headway in terms of smallholder farmer financing, but the biggest potential lie in the Messy Middle, where the bulk of goods exchange hands and the biggest challenges lie. For instance, this can help small and medium traders and retailers, who often find it difficult to sustain business during covid, to get access to credit.
It is also telling of the potential of blockchain when the likes of governments, such as in Singapore and China, have also recently committed to significant resources to develop blockchain capabilities of their country.
The overall undercurrent theme for 2021 seems to be data, where visibility of flow of goods and flow of money needs to be achieved, so that we can really ensure that our food systems are efficient and visible, and that food is sustainable and safe for both people and planet.
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If you are interested to learn more about our solutions, please contact [email protected].
DiMuto CEO Gary Loh has been invited to join Produce Marketing Association’s Global Development Committee for 2021.The Produce Marketing Association (PMA) is a trade organization representing companies from every segment of the global fresh produce and floral supply chain. PMA aims to connect, inform and deliver industry solutions to enhance members’ prosperity and is increasingly seen as a trusted resource and thought leader for the growth of the global produce and floral industry.The Global Development Committee (GDC) is a committee aiming to foster global business connections and intelligence for current and future PMA members, and support the global growth strategy of PMA. The GDC works to identify global issues that impact the produce and floral industries and is the first line of sight to identify global opportunities for growth. It is also part of PMA’s overall mission to bring global fruit and vegetable and floral communities together in order to cultivate a healthier world.Recently, the PMA GDC has met up in Singapore to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by producers in Southeast Asia markets, as well as in Spain, a European leader in production of fruits and vegetables, so as to provide solutions to challenges in these economies.“A lack of visibility in the Messy Middle of global produce supply chains has contributed to problems with food safety and food waste. The pandemic has hit the industry hard, and there has been much conversation around how technology like blockchain can help to solve some of the problems faced by the value chain. I look forward to helping PMA and its members explore applicable solutions for challenges faced by the global fresh produce and floral industry, ” said Gary Loh, Chief Executive Officer of DiMuto.“The Covid-19 pandemic has led to widespread disruption of the fresh produce industry, driving change at a rapid pace, affecting the way the fresh produce industry works, lives, eats, moves and uses technology. Looking at how the industry can work towards becoming more resilient towards such disruptions, as well as recovery growth opportunities in the various markets will be a key focus for the incoming committee,” from Nancy Tucker, Vice President, Global Business Development of PMA.Listen to PMA’s podcast PMA Takes on Tech, and join our CEO Gary Loh, along with Vonnie Estes, VP of Technology at PMA, Seana Day, Partner at Better Food Ventures and Kim Rui, Global Head, FreshCloud Infrastructure and Analytics at AgroFresh, as they discuss how technology can help growers, packers and shippers along the value chain, especially in The First Mile and Messy Middle.Access the podcast here – https://bit.ly/2UEoRwg
Newton Orchards is now able to connect with its end consumers directly, launching a marketing campaign that raises awareness of the Newton Orchards brand while implementing DiMuto’s SMART marketing services to communicate its from farm to table traceability story to consumers in Australia.
DiMuto’s QR code-driven SMART marketing services are a cost-effective solution for reaching end consumers and communicating traceability brand stories from farmers and producers.
About Newton OrchardsA key Western Australia orchard, Newton Orchards of Manjimup is a family owned and operated business for over 90 years and four generations. Over the years, it has grown to one of the most trusted fruit growers in Australia.
Has a fruit derivative beverage line of ciders and juices to reduce food waste
Grows a wide variety of crops, such as apples, pears, and cherries
Supplies fresh produce to major retail supermarkets such as Coles and Woolworths.
Industry: fresh produce
Location: Manjimup, Western Australia
Dimuto’s Results
DiMuto Digital Asset Creation (DAC) and the trading platform provided trade traceability that helped provide complete supply chain visibility
SMART marketing solutions helped engage end consumers and strengthen the Newton Orchard brand
Key Challenges
Unable to engage end consumers directly and learn more about their customers
Unable to meet consumer demand for traceability of their fresh produce
Difficult to conduct cross-promotion for their fresh and beverage products
Challenging to differentiate the Newton Orchards apples from other existing brands in the market
For many growers and producers, it is often difficult to differentiate their products from existing products and brands in the market. This makes entries into new markets or sales channel challenging. Additionally, being at the upstream of the food supply chain, they often rely on intermediaries to deliver the product to the end consumers and as such, have no way of directly communicating with the people who consume their products.At the same time, more and more consumers are looking for traceability when it comes to fresh produce, as they want to be certain that the produce they are purchasing has been safely handled and are of good quality. While farmers have been complying with safety regulations and good processing practices, it is difficult to communicate this to the end consumers.How DiMuto HelpsDiMuto’s SMART Marketing solution provides a simple solution that connects the farmers to the end consumers. As part of DiMuto’s trade solutions platform, the Sales & Marketing Retention & Awareness Tool (SMART) Marketing solution allows fresh produce growers and suppliers like Newton Orchards to conduct cost effective marketing campaigns to engage consumers.
With DiMuto SMART Marketing, Newton Orchards is able to communicate to end consumers using the DiMuto QR Labels tagged on every apple. When consumers scan the QR code, they now have the power to know the journey behind a simple apple, and learn about the origin of the apples, farming practices and history of the four-generation farm.Newton Orchards SMART Marketing Lucky Draw CampaignNewton Orchards is now also able to conduct direct marketing campaigns through DiMuto SMART Marketing. It has hosted a lucky draw campaign for its Western Australia market, aiming to raise awareness about its apple juices and ciders, as well as its traceability story for the fresh Pink Lady apples.Point of Sales Marketing by Newton OrchardsThe marketing campaign has garnered positive feedback from consumers on the ground with its point-of sales tasting and marketing, showing that consumers respond to traceability and QR marketing. The lucky draw mechanism also allows Newton Orchards to gain an understanding of the behaviour and profile of their end consumers, and build a relationship with them.Point of sales tasting campaigns in Gilbert’s Fresh Market, Western AustraliaTo utilize DiMuto SMART Marketing, Newton Orchards deploy DiMuto traceability solutions in order to capture their supply chain information, including DiMuto QR Labels. This allows them to communicate a verifiable traceability story to end consumers and use traceability as a tool to differentiate their brand.Newton Orchard Pink Lady Apples with DiMuto Hybrid QR TagsAdam Buckley, Logistics Manager of Newton Orchards, with Charlie Opferkuch, Owner/Manager of Gilbert’s Fresh Market Hilton owner/manager“We are excited to partner with DiMuto as part of our commitment to deliver sustainable and safe food to Australian consumers. By being able to track each apple from the farm to fork, we’re able to guarantee food integrity that customers can enjoy the apples in a way that’s closer to nature,” said Harvey Giblett, owner and manager of Newton Orchards.With DiMuto-verified products and trade, Newton Orchards is now able to leverage traceability to differentiate their brand and strengthen their farm to table brand to end consumers.If you are interested to learn more about how DiMuto helps fresh produce growers to grow their brand with traceability, please reach us here or drop us an email at [email protected].
During the first ever digital edition of the Asia Fruit Logistica (AFL) last week, the fresh produce industry took a look at the future of Asia and Southeast Asia for the fresh produce industry.
Recovery of Asian markets
Like we predicted in our previous article, Asia’s fresh produce trade is set to bounce back and recover from the global pandemic according to the panel of experts in Asia Fruit Congress 2020. As the Fruitnet report on the event states, even a tourism-based economy like Thailand is beginning to see signs of recovery, and consumers in Asia are already veering towards e-commerce well before the coronavirus.
Demand for traceable produce
More and more consumers in Asia are expecting traceability when it comes to fresh produce, according to key findings in a Southeast Asian market report from The Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) shared during AFL. Consumers in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are looking for traceable, high quality and premium fresh produce.
Excerpt from AusTrade sharing session during AFL2020
Opportunities for fresh produce suppliers
For produce grower-exporters looking to enter the different Asian markets, this presents a great opportunity to leverage traceability as a way to differentiate your brand of fresh produce from others in the market.
In order for traceability to make sense to producers, the value it can bring to the table has to be outweigh the cost of implementing new technologies and adapting existing work flows. Thus, “will consumers pay a premium for traceability?” is a big but necessary question that producers ask when it comes to the topic of traceability. According to a scientific study published by the Europe PMC, about 70% of consumers in China are willing to pay a premium for traceable fresh pork, and quality certification mattered most. A report by the Label Insight and Food Marketing Institute found that 75% of consumers are more likely to switch to a brand that provides more in-depth product information beyond what is provided on the physical label. 73% of consumers are also willing to pay more for such information transparency, and 56% of them trust brands that provide these information more.
By engaging end consumers at the retail level and showing them that your produce has been tracked and trace from farm to fork, producers are able to build trust with end consumers and strengthen their brand with an ability to command higher price premiums and more loyal customers.
Getting Started – First Trace, then Communicate
How to get started? Firstly, producers will need to deploy traceability systems to make sure that they can see all the important supply chain information in one place.
This means that the information on the fruit level has to be tracked and recorded throughout the supply chain, beginning from the packhouse or farm and continue as it travels towards the consumer. Information here includes fruit quality, product certificates stating origin, good manufacturing practices and more.
It is also important to ensure the integrity of the information, so that producers can communicate information that is verified – which is why many grower-exporters have been looking at blockchain for its ability to preserve and record information in a shared, immutable manner.
QR codes on fruit labels that give the ability to communicate to consumers directly
Then, there is the issue of communicating such provenance information to consumers. How can producers directly engage end consumers around the world? The answer lies, simply, in QR labels. When producers label every single fruit with a QR code, consumers can then scan the code with their mobile phones to retrieve and access such information.
DiMuto SMART Marketing Tool – Traceability with a Story
DiMuto helps produce suppliers to digitize, organize and capitalize their product and trade data. With our trade solutions, producers can track and trace their products, down to every single carton and every single product on one single platform. This product level of granularity is then combined with the relevant trade information such as shipping information and buyer receipt information on the blockchain.
As part of our trade services helping suppliers to capitalize on their traceability data, the DiMuto Sales & Marketing Retention & Awareness Tool (SMART) Marketing solution then helps brand owners and suppliers to communicate this traceability information to end consumers.
Our product page allows you to conduct cost effective marketing campaigns to engage end consumers – consumers will be able to see verified product origins, obtain information about the farm and growing practices, as well as learn new recipes and participate in exciting lucky draw promotions conducted directly by growers and brands. Consumers are also able to leave feedback on the produce quality, giving suppliers important information about the product quality and consumer experience, something that producers were previously unable to learn about due to supply chain complexity.
Consumers are able to access verified traceability story of their produce with DiMuto
We have helped suppliers like Newton Orchards, Morning Glory Farms and Pukuna Farms to engage end consumers with our solutions. Click on the links to read their customer success story.
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If you are interested to learn more about our solutions, please contact [email protected].
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The Global Development Committee (GDC) is a committee aiming to foster global business connections and intelligence for current and future PMA members, and support the global growth strategy of PMA. The GDC works to identify global issues that impact the produce and floral industries and is the first line of sight to identify global opportunities for growth. It is also part of PMA’s overall mission to bring global fruit and vegetable and floral communities together in order to cultivate a healthier world.Recently, the PMA GDC has met up in Singapore to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by producers in Southeast Asia markets, as well as in Spain, a European leader in production of fruits and vegetables, so as to provide solutions to challenges in these economies.“A lack of visibility in the Messy Middle of global produce supply chains has contributed to problems with food safety and food waste. The pandemic has hit the industry hard, and there has been much conversation around how technology like blockchain can help to solve some of the problems faced by the value chain. I look forward to helping PMA and its members explore applicable solutions for challenges faced by the global fresh produce and floral industry, ” said Gary Loh, Chief Executive Officer of DiMuto.“The Covid-19 pandemic has led to widespread disruption of the fresh produce industry, driving change at a rapid pace, affecting the way the fresh produce industry works, lives, eats, moves and uses technology. Looking at how the industry can work towards becoming more resilient towards such disruptions, as well as recovery growth opportunities in the various markets will be a key focus for the incoming committee,” from Nancy Tucker, Vice President, Global Business Development of PMA.
Listen to PMA’s podcast PMA Takes on Tech, and join our CEO Gary Loh, along with Vonnie Estes, VP of Technology at PMA, Seana Day, Partner at Better Food Ventures and Kim Rui, Global Head, FreshCloud Infrastructure and Analytics at AgroFresh, as they discuss how technology can help growers, packers and shippers along the value chain, especially in The First Mile and Messy Middle.Access the podcast here – 
With DiMuto SMART Marketing, Newton Orchards is able to communicate to end consumers using the DiMuto QR Labels tagged on every apple. When consumers scan the QR code, they now have the power to know the journey behind a simple apple, and learn about the origin of the apples, farming practices and history of the four-generation farm.
Newton Orchards SMART Marketing Lucky Draw CampaignNewton Orchards is now also able to conduct direct marketing campaigns through DiMuto SMART Marketing. It has hosted a lucky draw campaign for its Western Australia market, aiming to raise awareness about its apple juices and ciders, as well as its traceability story for the fresh Pink Lady apples.
Point of Sales Marketing by Newton OrchardsThe marketing campaign has garnered positive feedback from consumers on the ground with its point-of sales tasting and marketing, showing that consumers respond to traceability and QR marketing. The lucky draw mechanism also allows Newton Orchards to gain an understanding of the behaviour and profile of their end consumers, and build a relationship with them.
Point of sales tasting campaigns in Gilbert’s Fresh Market, Western AustraliaTo utilize DiMuto SMART Marketing, Newton Orchards deploy DiMuto traceability solutions in order to capture their supply chain information, including DiMuto QR Labels. This allows them to communicate a verifiable traceability story to end consumers and use traceability as a tool to differentiate their brand.
Newton Orchard Pink Lady Apples with DiMuto Hybrid QR Tags
Adam Buckley, Logistics Manager of Newton Orchards, with Charlie Opferkuch, Owner/Manager of Gilbert’s Fresh Market Hilton owner/manager“We are excited to partner with DiMuto as part of our commitment to deliver sustainable and safe food to Australian consumers. By being able to track each apple from the farm to fork, we’re able to guarantee food integrity that customers can enjoy the apples in a way that’s closer to nature,” said Harvey Giblett, owner and manager of Newton Orchards.With DiMuto-verified products and trade, Newton Orchards is now able to leverage traceability to differentiate their brand and strengthen their farm to table brand to end consumers.If you are interested to learn more about how DiMuto helps fresh produce growers to grow their brand with traceability, please reach us here or drop us an email at 
