Highlighting the importance of tracking and gathering feedback from consumers, YottaMark, the maker of the traceability platform, HarvestMark, had a presence at this year's National Watermelon Association Convention in San Antonio, Texas. Acknowledging the large part that the watermelon industry plays for their tracking business, YottaMark was a sponsor at this year's event.“Watermelons have continued to be a leading category of adoption for shopper engagement and traceability,” said Harvestmark's creator, Elliot Grant. The HarvestMark platform allows the tracking and tracing of produce all the way down to the consumer level. Because the platform can be used to engage with consumers and gather feedback, the service has been popular with watermelon growers.
“Not all watermelons are the same,” pointed out Grant. “So growers are trying to get that extra little bit of sweetness or mouth crunch, and HarvestMark can help with that.” He noted that growers can gather feedback from consumers about the characteristics of their fruit, and that can be tied back to the specific seed varieties used. Real-world testing like that can help growers figure out which varieties appeal the most to consumers.
“If you want to see how your fruit performs in volume, this is how you find out,” said Grant. “This is a way to directly ask consumers what they think about your fruit.” That ability to test products “in the wild” is something Grant cites as a reason that a good portion of the watermelon industry has adopted their product.
“We believe HarvestMark is the holy grail of understanding how a product is performing,” he said. “Because you can get feedback from real shoppers, and you can do it at scale.”
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