Connecting the Physical Product to Its Digital Information
A product is no longer defined only by what can be seen, touched or printed on its packaging. Behind the physical item sits a growing body of information about where its materials come from, how it moves through the supply chain, which certifications apply to it, and what is known about its environmental and sustainability characteristics.
For many companies, at least some of this information already exists. The difficulty is that it may sit across different documents, systems and parts of the value chain, without a clear connection to the product itself.
This is where the idea of digital product identity becomes useful. Rather than viewing traceability records, certification data, sustainability information and other product data as separate elements, companies can begin to connect relevant information around the physical product in a digital environment.
Having product data, however, is not the same as having a digital identity. The distinction lies in the connection. A digital product identity can be understood as a digital information layer associated with the physical product, bringing relevant information together and making it accessible in context.
The real question, then, is not how much information can be attached to a product. It is how the physical product can be reliably connected to the right digital information throughout its lifecycle.
From Product Data to Digital Product Identity
Every digital product identity starts with data, but data is the foundation rather than the final outcome.
The DEOPP approach captures this progression through three actions: collect, organize and enhance product information. The platform was developed by Antares Vision Group and Genuine Way around information that may include raw material origin, the journey along the supply chain, certifications and sustainability characteristics.
The principle is straightforward. Collecting brings relevant product information into scope. Organizing it gives separate pieces of information a clearer context around the product. Enhancing it means making better use of that information, so it can serve purposes beyond simply existing as a record.
This reflects Antares Vision Group’s experience in traceability technologies, product data management and supply chain digitalization. It also highlights an important shift in how businesses can think about product data: instead of information remaining scattered across certificates, documents and systems, it can contribute to a more connected digital representation of the product.
The objective is not simply to accumulate more data. It is to give relevant data context and keep it meaningfully associated with the product to which it belongs.
Connecting the Physical and Digital Product
Organizing product information is only part of the picture. For a digital product identity to be useful, there also needs to be a way to move from the physical product to the digital information associated with it.
Packaging can provide that access point.
In the DEOPP model, packaging becomes a digital touchpoint through a QR code. Consumers, business partners and other stakeholders can scan the code to access a dedicated web app presenting information about the brand, the product and its journey through the supply chain.
The distinction is important: the QR code is an access point, not the digital identity itself. Its role is to connect the physical item with the digital information associated with it.
Seen this way, packaging takes on an additional function. Alongside containing, protecting and communicating information about the physical product, it can provide an entry point to a broader digital information layer that cannot realistically be contained on the package itself.
The technology matters because it enables the connection. The value, however, lies in the information behind that connection.
Beyond Packaging: One Digital Identity, Multiple Touchpoints
Packaging is not necessarily the only route into this digital layer.
DEOPP, for example, supports configurable digital experiences that can be distributed across packaging, websites, e-commerce, social channels and other consumer touchpoints. This gives practical meaning to the “Omnichannel” component of Digital Engagement Omnichannel Product Passport, the full name behind the DEOPP acronym.
The important point is not the number of channels involved. It is that digital product information does not have to remain tied to a single interaction with the physical package.
Someone encountering the physical product may enter through its packaging. In another context, a website or e-commerce environment may provide another route to relevant product information. These are different access points to a digital experience built around the product.
This makes digital product identity broader than a QR code or an individual channel. The product remains the reference point, while its digital information can become accessible in different contexts.
Digital Product Identity in the Digital Product Passport Context
The importance of structured and accessible product information becomes particularly clear in the context of the Digital Product Passport (DPP).
The legal framework for the DPP is established by the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781. The DPP is conceived as a digital container for information about products, components and materials, intended to support sustainability and circularity and facilitate legal compliance. It is being introduced progressively across selected product groups, with specific requirements determined through applicable product-specific legislation.
Depending on the product group, DPP information may cover areas such as origin, materials, environmental performance, repairability, reuse and recycling. The exact dataset is therefore not universal: requirements depend on the relevant product and regulatory framework.
This makes an important distinction necessary. A digital product identity is not the same as a Digital Product Passport.
Digital product identity is the broader concept explored here: connecting a physical product with a meaningful digital layer of information. The DPP is a specific regulatory mechanism through which defined product information will be made accessible in a more standardized digital form.
For the same reason, creating a digital product identity does not automatically make a product DPP-compliant. Compliance ultimately depends on the requirements applicable to the relevant product group. What the DPP does reinforce is the growing importance of having product information that can be structured, connected to the right product and made digitally accessible.
Companies therefore do not necessarily have to wait for every product-specific requirement to be finalized before examining the information they already hold. Understanding what product data exists and how it relates to the physical product can support transparency and traceability today while creating a stronger foundation for future requirements.
From Digital Product Information to Strategic Value
The value of digital product information extends beyond describing what a product is. When information is connected to the product and made accessible, it can become relevant across several business needs.
Compliance
As DPP requirements are progressively introduced for specific product groups, companies will need to understand the information they already have and the additional requirements that apply to them. A stronger product information foundation can help companies prepare, although it should not be confused with compliance itself.
Supply Chain Visibility
Digital product information can also provide context around a product’s journey through the value chain. When information about origin and movement remains associated with the product, traceability data can contribute to greater visibility and transparency across the supply chain.
Consumer Dialogue
The same information layer can have a different purpose when it is made available in a consumer-facing environment. Through packaging and other digital touchpoints, selected information can help brands communicate more directly about the product, its provenance and its journey where that information is available.
The important point is that these are not necessarily separate information worlds. Data collected around a product can acquire different forms of value depending on where, how and for whom it becomes accessible.
This is the progression that gives digital product identity its wider relevance: data becomes connected to an identity, that identity makes information accessible, and accessibility creates the conditions for the information to become useful.
DEOPP: Where Traceability and Digital Engagement Meet
DEOPP, or Digital Engagement Omnichannel Product Passport, provides a practical example of this convergence.
The platform combines Antares Vision Group’s experience in traceability technologies, product data management and supply chain digitalization with Genuine Way’s expertise in supply chain communication and digital engagement.
Those competencies reflect the two sides of digital product identity explored throughout this article: managing relevant information around a product and making that information accessible through digital experiences.
In practice, DEOPP is designed to allow companies to collect, organize and enhance product information and connect it to digital experiences. Packaging can become an access point through a QR code and dedicated web app, while configurable experiences can also extend to other digital touchpoints.
What matters here is not any individual technology. It is the connection created between product data, the physical product and accessible digital information.
That connection also reflects the broader direction described by Mattia Assanelli, General Manager Supply Chain Transparency & Service at Antares Vision Group: product data can become a strategic asset for compliance, supply chain visibility and consumer dialogue, pointing toward an ecosystem in which digital information increasingly accompanies products throughout their lifecycle.
DEOPP is therefore less interesting as a definition of digital product identity than as an example of what becomes possible when traceability, product information and digital engagement converge around the same physical product.
From Physical Products to Digital Information Ecosystems
A digital product identity is not created simply by adding a QR code, publishing more product information online or responding to a regulatory requirement. It emerges from something more fundamental: the connection between the physical product, the information associated with it and the people who need to access that information.
That connection gives product data a role beyond isolated records or documents. It allows digital information to remain associated with the product and become useful in different contexts, from transparency and supply chain visibility to regulatory preparation and consumer dialogue.
The shift from physical product to digital identity is therefore not about making the product less physical. It is about giving its information a clearer, more accessible digital dimension. As products move through increasingly connected value chains, their digital information can move with them, turning the physical product and its digital identity into two connected dimensions of the same product lifecycle.
Coming soon: Lot Traceability: A Smarter Way to Manage Recalls, Quality, and Compliance
