As the world is moving towards digitalization, every aspect of our life is influenced by it and physical products are no exception. From communication to shopping, digital technology has revolutionized our lives in every possible way and changed the way we interact with things. One of the trends we see significant movement and growth in is the digitalization of physical products with secure NFC tags and digital links. In this post, we’ll explore what NFC tags and product digital URL links are, how they can be used to digitalize physical products, digitally transform products and the benefits they offer.
What are NFC Tags and Product Digital Links?
NFC (Near Field Communication) is a technology that allows two devices to communicate wirelessly over a short distance. NFC tags are small chips that can be embedded in physical products or packaging. These tags can store information and can be read by a smartphone that supports NFC technology.
Digital links, on the other hand, are unique web addresses issued for every individual instance of a product much like barcodes are which can identify a product and that can be accessed through the internet. These digital links essentially connect a physical product with it’s digital information or features and can be used to provide additional information about a product, such as user manuals, product reviews, and warranty information or offer digital features which can augment the physical product.
How can NFC Tags and URL Links be used to Digitalize Physical Products?
NFC tags and digital links can be used to provide customers with a rich digital experience when purchasing or interacting with analog physical products. By simply tapping their smartphone on an NFC tag, customers can authenticate a product, access product information, interactive content, ownership or, warranty information and much more. The use of digital links allows brands, creators and manufacturers to provide additional information or digital value added features to customers that are tightly tied to the physical product without the need for downloading any apps.
In addition to providing customers with augmented digital experiences, highly specialized secure unclonable NFC tags and dynamic digital links can also be used for product authentication and tracking.
Benefits of Using NFC Tags and URL Links in Physical Products
The use of NFC tags and digital links in physical products has numerous benefits. These include:
- Enhanced Customer Experience
NFC tags and digital links provide customers with access to additional information about products, making their experience with the product and brand more individualized, unique, convenient and informative. This enhances customer trust, satisfaction, which leads to increased brand loyalty and also increases the value of the product in the eyes of the customer as opposed to a product without digitally augmented experiences & features.
- Improved Product Trust and Authentication
Product digitalization or digital transformation of products enhanced with NFC tags can be used to track products throughout the supply chain and ensure that they are not counterfeit. This increases product security and helps manufacturers identify and address supply chain issues while also increasing trust and value from the customers perspective.
- Reduced Environmental Impact
The use of unique URLs for products or digital links to provide additional information about products reduces the need for physical manuals and packaging, which can help reduce the environmental impact of product packaging. Additionally, since it serves as a digital identifier for every product, it can be used to uniquely identify the product instance which is key to circular economy solutions, reusable assets and similar initiatives around sustainability.
- Increased Sales & Value
By providing customers with additional information and digitally transforming physical products with additional digital features and experiences, the NFC enable products make the product more relevant to the new digital first generation of consumers and increase the value of the product in the eyes of the consumer. Customers are more likely to purchase products when they have access to all the information they need, are able to authenticate it, have a more personalized experience with the product and see value in the product both physically and digitally.
The digitalization of physical products with secure NFC tags and unique digital links is an innovative way to enhance the customer experience, increase product security and bring traditionally analog products into the digital era. The technology can be used in protecting collectibles and physical assets by mitigating the risk of counterfeiting. It provides customers with convenient access to additional product information, digital features and unique experiences. The benefits of using digitalization of products with the use of NFC tags and digital links in physical products are numerous, and we can expect to see a lot more products being digitized in the future.
