“We had acquired six new avocado farms and demand for our fruit was surging,” Cormac te Kloot, Divisional Manager Avocado & Banana Marketing said. “We knew our produce was great when it left our premises but didn’t know much about our customers’ experience. Was it good for them?”  “We wanted to get closer to direct consumer feedback. “After Covid-19, QR check-in codes were everywhere. We heard about iTrazo, who were working with wine producers to give consumers direct information about their wine and provide an engagement platform whereby consumers could provide producers with direct feedback.” Cormac said they met with iTrazo and briefed them on what data they needed to deliver the highest quality fruit to consumers. “iTrazo built a customised dashboard, so we could see where clusters of our consumers were, what areas had the strongest demand,” he said. The technology has been up and running for three years now and the benefits have been numerous. “Consumers can scan a QR code with their smartphones and rate our avocadoes and they can provide us with a rating of our product, so if there is a problem, we can fix it quickly,” he said. “We go back to our agronomy team to improve the shelf life of the fruit, but we can also see where our fruit is being sold and who our customers are. “We can also engage with consumers, by providing them with the provenance of the fruit, recipes and tips for getting the most out of the fruit.” Cormac said there was scope to broaden iTrazo’s offering to other parts of the business, including bananas, citrus and table grapes. He said iTrazo’s technology enabled Costa to continually improve its offering in a fast-changing environment. “Even if one per cent of consumers provide feedback, that’s enough to gets loads of information about how our avocadoes are doing in the marketplace,” he said. “Consumers are interested in the provenance of products, particularly the Asian market. People want to know where their food is sourced and that it’s been produced ethically.” He recommends iTrazo to other producers. “I recommend the technology. iTrazo are excellent to work with. We like working with people who give us ideas. I definitely recommend iTrazo. We’ve had a really good experience with them. “It’s a competitive market in the Ag space and we value things that will benefit us over our competitors.”