FiXX is an Irish coffee company and a Certified B Corporation™. Its bright orange bags, from Classic and Organic to Decaf, Lisbon and Single Origin, are easy to spot on the shelf. Now its coffee packaging also carries Digital Link QR codes: a doorway from the coffee in the customer's hands to the knowledge and experience of the team behind the coffee.
The QR code gives our coffee a voice when we're not there ourselves.
FiXX
A coffee bag can only say so much
Packaging has always been an important part of how FiXX talks to its customers, from the colour and design to the information printed on the pack. But the amount of information people want about the products they buy keeps growing, and there is a limit to what can realistically fit on a coffee bag.
That is where QR-enabled packaging comes in. Working with GS1 and with Digital Link as its partner, FiXX has moved towards a more connected approach to product information, using GS1-standard QR codes to create a digital link between each coffee and the information, knowledge and experience behind it.
A doorway into the knowledge behind each coffee
FiXX does not see the QR code as a simple replacement for the traditional barcode. It sees it as an opportunity to make the packaging more useful. The physical pack is still the starting point, but the digital layer lets the information around each product grow and evolve without cluttering the bag.
That matters for coffee. There is a lot of expertise behind every product, from origin and processing to roasting, brewing and flavour, and the QR code gives FiXX somewhere to share it.
We're using the QR codes as a doorway into the information and knowledge behind each coffee.
FiXX
The experience is deliberately product-focused. It is not meant to replace the FiXX website or tell the whole story of the company. A scan takes the customer straight to information about the particular coffee they are holding: where it comes from, how it was processed and roasted, what it should taste like, or simply how to brew it at home.
Information at the moment it is most relevant
For FiXX, the biggest benefit is simple. The team now thinks of the QR codes almost as another member of staff: one that explains the products and shares the story 24/7, whenever the customer needs it.
The customer chooses when to explore further, and the information is there at the point where it is most relevant: when they are looking at the coffee, buying it or drinking it. It also adds value after the purchase. The relationship with the product does not have to end when the customer leaves the shop; they can keep engaging with the coffee once they are at home.
Trade customers benefit too. Cafés and retailers can use the product information as a training and sales tool, an easy way for their teams to understand the coffees they sell and pass that knowledge on to their own customers. They can also rely on the information knowing that it supports FiXX's compliance with the relevant regulations.
From giving information to learning from customers
One of the most exciting changes for FiXX is that the conversation now runs both ways. Before, once a coffee left the warehouse and went onto a shelf or into someone's home, the team had very little visibility of what customers wanted to know. With QR-enabled packaging, that engagement can now be measured.
As the initiative develops, the Digital Link analytics will show which coffees customers explore and which types of information they find most useful. With the help of the Digital Link team, FiXX is putting the infrastructure in place now, so that over time it can learn from real customer behaviour instead of making assumptions.
This changes the conversation from simply giving customers information to learning from them about what they choose to engage with.
FiXX
Early adopters of connected packaging
FiXX sees itself as an early adopter, building something it believes will become increasingly important: packaging that connects a physical product with a richer, more useful digital experience. For now, the value lies in laying the foundations to understand customers better and keep improving the information and the experience it offers.
In the team's own words, it means their experience and expertise can travel with the product, on every bag, in every kitchen and behind every café counter.
