Global Businesses Align to Provide Accurate Consumer Data

I am surprised this has not been done methodically long ago.  It is becoming very important as shoppers need to get accurate data in-store.   It is also key for other technological applications, like self-checkout and in store displays.  I know we discussed the problem as early as 2000 ...

Global Businesses Align to Provide Accurate Product Data to Consumers
More than a dozen corporations representing hundreds of billions of dollars in global commerce are working together to address a growing need for accurate product information accessed via mobile devices and the Internet. The Business to Consumer (B2C) Alliance is announced by its facilitators, GS1 US and GS1 Canada, not-for-profit organizations that are part of the global GS1 standards body.

The alliance is composed of representatives from leading product brands, technology providers and retailers. The current list of participants includes: AT&T; Cisco; The Coca-Cola Company; IBM; The J.M. Smucker Company; Johnson & Johnson Consumer Group of Companies; Kraft Foods; The Kroger Co.; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Auto-ID Lab; Microsoft Corp.; NeoMedia Technologies; PepsiCo, Inc.; Premier healthcare alliance; Procter & Gamble; and Scanbuy, Inc. ..... "