Leading global companies support development of global standards for trusted, efficient communication between businesses and consumers via mobile phones (Mobile Commerce)

Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain, 1st November 2009 – The GS1 Management Board, composed of top executives of leading global companies, has agreed that GS1 should become a key enabler to guarantee a trusted and efficient communication between companies and consumers (B2C). The Board, which governs GS1 at global level, acknowledges that there is an opportunity for the industry to extend GS1 standards already widely used for Business-to-Business (B2B) processes to the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) space in the areas of:

• Identification Keys

• Data Carriers (Bar codes and RFID tags)

• Product data related to consumer information (e.g. nutritional facts, allergies, sustainability)

• Data exchange (messages among partners and technical infrastructure)

The GS1 Management Board has asked GS1 to partner with manufacturers, retailers, solution providers, mobile phone manufacturers, operators and associations to agree these open, global standards.

“GS1 standards will enable us to enhance our relationship with consumers using the channels they prefer – during their trip to the store, on the internet or via the mobile phones,” said Raed Al-Samahiji, Founder, President & CEO of GS1 Bahrain, a Member Organization in GS1.

GS1 recommends the use of global and open standards to avoid unnecessary complexity, reduce costs and ensure interoperability. A number of key standards are already available for companies to use today as they explore technology possibilities. Other standards and infrastructure questions are being progressed by the GS1 MobileCom group. The GS1 Management Board strongly encourages companies to join this group.

“GS1 has brought together a group of organisations dedicated to defining and using open standards as a foundation to unlock the potential of mobile commerce. It shows that brands and retailers are convinced that mobile is becoming a key touch point for engaging with consumers,” commented José Lopez, Executive Vice President of Operations Nestlé SA and Vice-Chairman of the Board of GS1.

“GS1 is ready to help the industry not only drive further efficiencies in their business but also develop how they interact with their consumers using new technologies,” said Miguel Lopera, President and CEO of GS1.

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About GS1
GS1 is a neutral, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards and solutions to improve the efficiency and visibility in supply chains. GS1 is driven by more than a million companies, who execute more than six billion transactions a day with the GS1 System of Standards. GS1 is truly global, with local Member Organisations in 108 countries, with the Global Office in Brussels, Belgium.

GS1 is governed by a management board composed of key leaders and drivers from multi-nationals, retailers, manufacturers and GS1 Member Organisations. Currently the GS1 Management Board is composed of the following companies: The Procter & Gamble Company, Metro AG, Nestlé S.A., GS1 Malta, Safeway Stores, Coca-Cola North America, DHL Exel Supply Chain, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Sara Lee Corporation, Advantage Sales & Marketing, Kraft Foods Global, Inc., Samsung Tesco Co. Ltd, B. Braun Melsungen AG, The Kroger Company, GS1 Australia, Unilever, GS1 Germany, GS1 Brazil, Daymon Worldwide, Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V (Johnson & Johnson), Bright Foods (Group) Company Ltd., Campbell Soup Company, AEON Global SCM Co. Ltd., GS1 Japan, GS1 France, GS1 Canada.

Download the “What is GS1?” brochure from www.gs1.org/docs/what_is_gs1.pdf. For other information about GS1, go to www.gs1.org.

About GS1 MobileCom
The goal of the GS1 MobileCom initiative is to give all consumers access to trusted product information and related services via their mobile phones. It urges all stakeholders to use GS1 standards to make this possible and in doing so to ensure interoperable, scalable and cost-effective applications. In general, it seeks that collaborative Mobile Commerce applications are enabled by an open infrastructure.

The group aims to:

• identify opportunities to use mobile technology and GS1 standards and to drive innovation in the extended supply chain

• show the business case behind relevant applications

• bring together existing standards to support those applications

• launch the development process to fill gaps in standards

• support standards implementation in the market

So far the group has produced the following documents:

• “Mobile Commerce: Opportunities and Challenges” White Paper

• Position Paper on barcodes to be used for mobile commerce

• Extended Packaging Pilot Handbook

More information available at www.gs1.org/mobile.

GS1 Bahrain
P.O.Box 5077
Manama-Kingdom of Bahrain
T: + 973 17 456330
F: + 973 17 456337
E: gs1@samahiji.com
HSBC 00-007566-00

For further information, contact Raed Al-Samahiji at raed@samahiji.com +973-17456330

© Press Release 2009