DPP Readiness Starts with Understanding Your Product Data
For many SMEs, preparing for the Digital Product Passport can appear complex. It means understanding an evolving regulatory framework, determining which product information may be required and considering how that information can be collected, structured and made digitally accessible.
Under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), Digital Product Passports will be introduced progressively across selected product groups. The specific information required will depend on the applicable product-specific or sector-specific legislation.
For SMEs, however, preparing does not necessarily mean building the final DPP infrastructure from day one. A more practical starting point is the product itself and the information behind it.
This is where DEOPP, developed by Antares Vision Group and Genuine Way, comes in. The platform is designed to help companies create a digital identity for a product, providing an accessible environment in which product information can be organized and shared. Its positioning reflects a practical idea: start working with product data now and progressively develop the transparency and traceability capabilities that may become increasingly relevant as DPP requirements take shape.
Start with the Product: Building a Digital Identity
With DEOPP, companies can create a customized digital product experience without requiring software development skills. A physical product is associated with a digital experience accessible through a QR code, giving users access to a dedicated web app with information about the product and its journey.
This creates a simple connection between the physical product and its digital information. Depending on what the company has available, the digital identity can include information on raw-material origin, the supply chain, certifications and sustainability characteristics.
This model is consistent with the broader DPP concept, in which digital information about products, components and materials is made accessible in a more transparent and standardized way. It is important, however, to keep the two concepts distinct: creating a digital identity through DEOPP does not automatically mean creating a regulatory-compliant DPP. The information and technical requirements applicable to a DPP depend on the legislation governing the relevant product group.
Turning Packaging into a Digital Gateway
Connecting a product to a digital environment also changes what packaging can do. A physical label has limited space, while a QR code can give consumers, business partners and other stakeholders access to a much richer information layer.
With DEOPP, packaging therefore becomes a digital touchpoint rather than the container for all the information itself. Once that connection has been established, the next question is more fundamental: what information should sit behind the product’s digital identity, and how reliable is it?
The First DPP Challenge Is Knowing Your Product Data
For many companies, the starting point is not necessarily collecting entirely new information. Relevant data may already exist across internal systems, certificates, supplier documentation, production records and traceability solutions. The challenge is understanding what is available, where it comes from and how reliably it can be connected to a specific product.
A practical assessment can begin with a few straightforward questions:
- What information can we already associate with our products?
- Where do our raw materials come from?
- What traceability information is available?
- Which sustainability claims can be supported by reliable data?
- Which certifications should be made accessible?
- Which information is still missing?
These questions turn DPP preparation into a concrete data exercise. The European Commission defines the Digital Product Passport as a digital container for information about products, components and materials. Depending on the product group, this may include information related to origin, materials, environmental performance, repairability, reuse and recycling, among other areas.
The practical challenge for an SME is therefore not simply creating a digital interface. It is knowing whether the information behind that interface exists, whether it can be reliably associated with the product and whether it is ready to be made accessible.
From Available Information to Missing Information
Mapping information to a digital identity can reveal three situations: data that is already available and usable; information that exists but is dispersed across departments, suppliers or systems; and information that is not yet being collected.
That distinction gives SMEs a concrete starting point. Instead of assuming that every piece of future DPP data must be generated from scratch, they can identify what they already know, where stronger supplier collaboration or traceability processes may be required, and which information gaps still need to be addressed.
Learning About the DPP by Doing
There is also a practical learning benefit. Product identifiers, traceability data, material information and digital access can remain abstract when considered only in regulatory terms. They become easier to understand when organized around an actual product and made accessible through its digital identity.
Working with one real product can therefore turn DPP preparation from an abstract regulatory concept into a practical exercise in collecting, organizing and connecting product information.
Beyond Compliance: One Product Identity, Multiple Business Uses
The same digital layer used to make product information accessible can also create value beyond regulatory preparation.
For SMEs, this opens three interconnected dimensions: compliance, marketing and customer experience. The same underlying product information can support different purposes, provided that the information communicated is accurate, traceable and appropriate for its intended audience.
Making Transparency Visible
Once product information is accessible through a digital identity, companies can make elements such as origin, production information, certifications and sustainability attributes more visible to customers and other stakeholders.
The value is not simply providing more information. It is making product claims easier to substantiate with the information behind them. Instead of relying solely on statements about sustainability or traceability, companies can make relevant supporting information more directly accessible.
This turns transparency into something a stakeholder can explore rather than something a brand simply declares.
Extending the Product Experience
Once the digital connection exists, it can also support interaction. Companies can use the product’s digital environment to provide complementary product or brand content, interactive services and other digital experiences.
The experience does not need to remain confined to the physical pack. DEOPP is designed around an omnichannel approach, allowing a product’s digital experience to extend across different digital touchpoints.
In this way, the same product identity created to make information accessible can support compliance needs while also becoming a new digital touchpoint between the brand and its customers.
From Digital Product Information to Connected Traceability Data
The digital identity can become more valuable as a company’s data and traceability capabilities mature. DEOPP can provide the initial environment around the product, while additional information can progressively make that identity richer.
This creates a practical maturity path.
Stage 1: Establish the digital identity.
A company can use DEOPP to create the initial digital environment around a product using information already available to the business.
Stage 2: Enrich the product identity.
As data availability improves, additional product, certification, sustainability and supply-chain information can be incorporated into the digital experience.
Stage 3: Connect traceability data.
At a more advanced stage, companies generating information through Antares Vision Group’s broader traceability ecosystem can bring additional production and supply-chain information into the picture. The Group’s approach to end-to-end traceability is based on identifying products and collecting and correlating information generated across different stages of production and distribution. Antares Vision Group has described this data as capable of contributing to a product’s digital identity for purposes including compliance, transparency, sustainability and communication.
The distinction is important. A digital product identity can initially make selected information accessible; connected traceability data can progressively provide a deeper view of the product and its journey.
For SMEs, this creates room to scale according to their actual digital maturity. DEOPP can provide a practical entry point, while the information associated with the product can become richer as the company’s data sources and traceability capabilities develop.
Start Small, Build for What Comes Next
For SMEs, DPP readiness does not need to begin with the final solution. It can begin by creating a clearer connection between a product and the information behind it. DEOPP offers a practical environment in which companies can take that first step and progressively enrich the product’s digital identity as their data and traceability capabilities mature. This is consistent with the way DEOPP has been positioned by Antares Vision Group and Genuine Way: as an accessible way for SMEs to begin working with digital product information, transparency and future compliance requirements.
Preparing for a more transparent, traceable and data-driven product ecosystem starts with knowing the data behind the product and being able to connect it reliably to that product.
