Product Traceability: everything you need to know

Understanding new legislation around traceability 

Gartner’s latest market guide outlines how DPPs and evolving sustainability regulations will reshape product data management for businesses selling within the EU. ESPR mandates increased transparency, with DPPs becoming a requirement for select industries by 2026, expanding further by 2027. These changes will drive a higher volume of product data storage, tracking, and verification requirements for manufacturers and retailers.

This shift isn’t temporary. The GS1-led Sunrise 2027 initiative is also pushing for 2D barcodes that provide detailed product traceability, reinforcing the need for businesses to digitize and automate compliance efforts. Gartner’s 2025 guide highlights that AI-driven tools will become standard in PIM solutions, with over 50% of companies adopting AI for compliance validation by 2026 to meet these growing data demands.

Even if a business operates outside of the EU, global regulations are enforcing stricter product transparency. In addition to the FTC’s Green Guides, new regulations like the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT), and Green Claims Directive (GCD) are ensuring that sustainability claims must be validated and standardized—further cementing PIM’s role in regulatory compliance.

Preparing for digital product passports 

The EU’s Digital Product Passport (DPP) requirements are rolling out in phases, with textiles, batteries, and consumer electronics among the first industries required to comply. While full enforcement timelines vary, textiles are expected to be among the first categories mandated by 2026, with additional industries following soon after. Only food and pharmaceuticals are explicitly excluded from DPP regulations.

As businesses prepare for DPP implementation, how can they efficiently collect, manage, and share product-level traceability data to meet compliance and satisfy ethically minded consumers?

Gartner explains, “Putting DPPs into practice requires a technical solution to collect all data about manufactured and distributed products.” Analysts highlight PIM as a centralized platform for sustainability data, helping businesses streamline compliance, support evolving regulatory requirements, and maintain transparency across supply chains.

PIM and product origin stories 

Consumers are actively seeking out more sustainable options. If your business is targeting this audience, understand they’re not just going to accept your sustainability credentials at face value. Edelman’s Trust Barometer found that just 34% of consumers trust the brands they buy from and as few as 20% trust brands’ sustainability claims. This means your products’ origin story could be key to engaging climate-conscious consumers. 

Gartner defines a product’s origin story as “the backstory or account of how a product came into existence”. It’s designed to tell the buyer where the product is from, who made it, how it was made, and how it arrived at the point of purchase. Your products’ origin stories could include data such as: 

• Materials, including their country of origin and percentage of recycled materials 
• Processing or chemical composition information 
• Producer information, such as where they’re based and their carbon footprint 
• The carbon footprint of the supply chain 

However, creating these origin stories starts with securing a single source of supply chain data that forms the basis for rich, compelling product information. That’s why a growing number of brands and manufacturers are turning to PIM to fuel this important part of their sustainability story. 

How to achieve product traceability

With regulatory and consumer pressure mounting, businesses must ensure verifiable product traceability from sourcing to sale. This means capturing data at every stage, collaborating with suppliers, and maintaining accurate records to meet compliance standards like DPP and EUDR.

Beyond compliance, traceability enables compelling product origin stories—narratives that prove sustainability claims and build trust. Edelman’s Trust Barometer found that only 34% of consumers trust brands they buy from, making transparent, data-backed origin stories essential.

Gartner defines a product’s origin story as “the backstory or account of how a product came into existence.” A strong origin story should detail:

• Where materials come from (origin, recycled content)
• How products are made (processing, ethical sourcing)
• The supply chain impact (carbon footprint, transportation)

Why PIM is essential for traceability

Achieving both traceability and credible origin stories requires a centralized system to collect, validate, and distribute product information across multiple stakeholders and channels. This is where Product Information Management (PIM) plays a transformative role.

By serving as a single source of truth, PIM enables brands to:

• Consolidate sustainability and traceability data into one accessible hub.
• Generate verified product origin stories backed by actual supply chain insights.
• Streamline compliance reporting for regulations like DPP, EUDR, and the Green Claims Directive.
• Deliver transparency at scale, making traceability not just a compliance measure but a brand advantage.

For businesses looking to future-proof their sustainability efforts, PIM is more than a data tool—it’s the foundation of trusted traceability and consumer engagement.

Using PIM to share consistent traceability data 

Sharing origin stories can strengthen your sustainability credentials, as they lift the curtain on an ethical or low-carbon supply chain. Even if DPPs don’t impact your sector, there’s still a lot of demand for businesses to make their products more traceable. 

Gartner explains that demand for transparency is particularly high for products that are ingested or used in close contact with end consumers. This includes food and drink, cosmetics and personal care products, and clothing and accessories. The biggest issue? It can be tricky to find a standardized way to record and share this valuable data. 

To consistently create strong product traceability, you need effective software solutions that make data capture and sharing easier. Gartner calls PIM the “foundational layer” that allows businesses to gather and sync up product data so it’s consistent and ready to be shared with consumers. PIM lets you input data into a centralized database which can then be relayed in a huge range of formats. This includes everything from DPPs to marketing comms to in-store informative materials. 

How product-level traceability supports sustainable purchases 

It’s not enough to state that your business is carbon neutral or to make blanket claims about the sustainable provenance of your goods anymore. Leading climate-conscious brands know that being transparent and traceable aren’t the same – and they should be taking tangible steps to move towards the latter. 

Even if your sector or business doesn’t yet have a timeline for DPP implementation, Gartner’s PIM Market Guide makes it clear traceability is here to stay. This highlights the importance of securing the right tech-driven strategy today to ensure you’re ready to meet the inevitable future state of product-level traceability.  

inriver: The PIM for product-level traceability 

The inriver PIM solution is the only PIM platform on the market capable of providing brands and manufacturers the capabilities you need for comprehensive product-level traceability. The fully extensible inriver data model offers the flexibility to capture, manage, optimize, and distribute product data from across the value chain. Inriver’s model also provides the elasticity required to meet evolving legislative demands, giving you complete peace of mind that your products will never fall foul of the regulators. 

The inriver platform is the complete solution for your entire product journey. The inriver PIM has built-in API-based syndication technology, advanced data sharing, and digital shelf intelligence through our two in-built digital shelf analytics (DSA) capabilities. These are just some of the inriver capabilities that combine to empower brands and manufacturers to offer comprehensive product-level traceability for every product at every stage of the omnichannel product journey.