What is a Product Package Freshness Badge?
In the Marketplace, a Freshness Badge refers to how up to date the product’s packaging is. Primarily, this has to do with the last verification date of the product packaging and the freshness of the package on the shelf. Package Freshness will apply to all items available to our grocery panel recipients. Our recipients determine the criteria for the Product Package Freshness, but the standard timeline for freshness is 9-12 months. The initial package freshness date will be determined based on the Syndigo Verification date- the date the item was verified and made available in Marketplace.
There are 3 Badges that may be applied to your item:
- Fresh - This means that the item is considered up to date by the recipient.
- Aging - This means that the package is not yet considered out-of-date, but it has not been updated within the recipient’s preferred timeline.
- Not Fresh - This means that the item is considered out-of-date by the recipient. The Not Fresh Badge may cause items to be pulled from retailers’ websites to make sure no out-of-date data from displaying online, though not every retailer may choose to do this.
Who Can See the Freshness Badge?
Freshness is only available to the supplier of the item, so only you will be able to see your items Package Freshness Badge. If you are the recipient of the item, you will not see the Package Freshness Badge of the item, only the supplier of the item can see that information.
View the Freshness Badge
To view your items’ Freshness Badge, follow the steps below:
- Navigate to the Marketplace Tab in the left-hand navigation bar.
- Select Marketplace Recipients in the sub-menu of Marketplace.
- Choose any one recipient that has purchased your products from the list of the Marketplace Recipients.
- Click the Manage Columns button above the Product Table.
- Add the Packaging Freshness and Certified Freshness Date as columns in your view.
- Click Apply.
You can now see your products Product Package Freshness Badge.
When you choose a recipient, you will also be able to see their timeline of Fresh, Aging, and Not Fresh Badges. So, in our example, the product will be considered Aging 10 months after the initial verification date, and Not Fresh after 12 months.
Update the Product Package Freshness Badge
Since product packaging is not always updated yearly, you have the option of confirming the freshness of your products in the Marketplace. This can be done up to 3 years after the initial verification date. After 3 years, the item would need to be resubmitted for verification to update the freshness.
To confirm the package freshness of your product, follow the below steps:
- Either select an item from the list of purchased products for a recipient under the Marketplace Recipients tab, OR select an item available in the My Products tab.
- This will take you into the View Details page. From here, click the Refresh Packaging button in the top right corner.
- Select Certify the package as fresh from the Refresh Packaging window. Note that choosing Refresh Packaging will prompt you to resubmit the item for Verification. This is not necessary for an item that has been verified for under 3 years unless you have an update to your product package or package data.
- When prompted to confirm, if everything is accurate, choose Certify as Fresh.
This will update the Freshness, and the Certified Freshness date will be updated to the current date. It will remain Fresh until the recipient’s timeframe indicates otherwise.
Packaging can be refreshed at any time, regardless of the current Product Package Freshness Badge. However, the Freshness Badge can only be done for one item at a time to ensure you are carefully reviewing the product data to make sure it is still up to date. There is no option to certify items in bulk.
What if I Have an Update to My Verified Content or My Product is not Eligible to be Refreshed?
If you review an item and determine it needs to be reverified due to new information, or if it was last verified over 3 years ago, you will need to resubmit the item for verification.
If you are working with an item over 3 years old, you will see this prompt instead of the “certify the package as fresh”:
You can either click Refresh Packaging to be taken to the item in the Products Tab for Digital Verification, or you can submit the item for physical verification and fill out the Product Shipment Form.
Regardless of how the item was submitted previously, you can use either the Digital or Physical verification method to resubmit your items. Though, if you intend to ship your items physically, please only fill out the product shipment form once and include any items you intend to update in that form.
If you are re-submitting an item for Verification, the Product Package Freshness Badge and Certified Freshness Date will not update until Verification is complete. So, if you do not see your badge or date update right away, do not be alarmed.
