Customers purchasing special anniversary gift boxes of Chinese tea brand Halfism’s Fuding white tea can now verify their purchase is genuine, access detailed product information and receive coupons towards future purchases by scanning an NFC tag embedded in the product’s packaging with their NFC smartphone.
Halfism has embedded each gift box with an NFC tag with an opening detection function that can detect whether the product has been opened and potentially tampered with prior to purchase. It also enables the brand to change the digital content made available to customers after they have opened the box and started using the product themselves.
The tag is designed to stop functioning if anyone attempts to remove it from the original packaging and fraudulently attach it to another product.
Circuit breaker
“Part of the NFC communication circuit embedded in the paper-based container has a fragile structure. This means that if the NFC tag is removed from the package, the circuit is broken and the NFC tag itself breaks, preventing the risk of NFC tags being removed from packages and used fraudulently,” technology provider Toppan explains.
“In addition to the NFC communication circuit, a circuit that detects disconnection can be positioned to detect opening of the package.
“NFC tag functions are maintained even if this additional circuit is broken, meaning that scanning with a smartphone or other NFC-enabled device is still possible after a product has been opened.
“As well as bolstering security, this opening detection function also has benefits for consumer engagement because brands can vary the content and information provided to consumers when they scan the NFC tag based on whether they have opened the product or not.”
Halfism has fitted the NFC tags to 100,000 boxes of Fuding white tea produced to mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of the so-called “contemporary saint” of Chinese tea, Wu Juenong, that will be shipped to “regions throughout China”.
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