AsureQuality has partnered with NZ Post to create an innovative New Zealand business solution that will see high-quality, verified, Māori-owned food and drink products delivered to consumers in China. This world-first collaboration, ‘Food Trust Framework’, ensures Chinese consumers can be confident their purchases are from authenticated Māori producers from the recently started HUI Māori Collective.
“The ‘AQ Assured’ assurance mark that fronts the new framework helps us do just that. It is a compelling way that New Zealand exporters like the HUI Māori Collective can deliver the trust, transparency and confidence in their brand stories that savvy international consumers are looking for,” said John McKay, AsureQuality CEO.
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise helped in bringing the initiative together and said the collective’s product showcase would be held in Alibaba Group’s Tmall Global e-commerce platform on NZ Post’s flagship store. Consumers can order the food and beverage products online, and NZ Post will package the order and send it directly to the Chinese customer in a partnership with China Post.
The system offers Chinese consumers trust and transparency through the use of unique AsureQuality QR codes a “verified physical delivery logistic system” fully managed and owned by NZ Post.
“The bespoke system produces an electronic record of information from manufacturing to delivery, ensuring confidence in the authenticity, quality and safety of the Hui products purchased by Chinese consumers. The huge learnings out of this journey have also enabled us to begin working on a proof of application blockchain trial which will augment the attributes of the framework,” said Dene Green, NZ Post spokesperson, general manager of international strategy and partnerships.
John McKay said the world-first quality assurance framework will capture Māori values and will weave these into product delivery for consumers. The system will authenticate and endorse the HUI’s supply chains and manufacturing processes.
“We believe that proof of provenance is a big opportunity to grow value from New Zealand’s productive sector, by increasing supply chain security, protecting against counterfeit, and providing the opportunity to differentiate New Zealand producers and products. As a State-Owned Enterprise, we have the backing of the New Zealand government to build and support ‘Brand New Zealand’,” said McKay.
“In collaboration with NZ Post, we’re excited about future opportunities to further build the HUI Collective, as well as, replicate and evolve it in other sectors, working side by side with our coalition partners to support and grow NZ Inc.”
The HUI Collective is set to be launched on the 5th of November in China, during the China International Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai.
