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Trust Place: The Saviour of Luxury Goods? · The Retail Podcast

• 0:00
  As I said at the beginning, we are really specialised in post
• 0:02
  purchase traceability. Traceability means you give to
• 0:05
  each product its own identity. Because I can buy a product, I
• 0:09
  can resell it, I can offer it the the the person I'm offering
• 0:13
  it can resell it as well. So the product had several lives
• 0:17
  now, so it it must have its own identity.
• 0:31
  Hello and welcome to the retail podcast now at NRF.
• 0:35
  I was fortunate enough to get an invite to the French Embassy and
• 0:39
  to see some of the hottest French startups that are working
• 0:43
  underneath the banner of the that you'd have to Didier.
• 0:47
  Didier will tell us exactly what what the group was, but I got to
• 0:51
  see Trust Place at NRF and I thought it'd be an interesting
• 0:55
  conversation to follow up to follow up.
• 0:57
  So Didier Matalia is the general manager, Co founder of Trust
• 1:01
  Place. Didier, why don't you tell us
• 1:04
  what Trust Place does and then tell us what was the French
• 1:07
  embassy event? Yeah.
• 1:09
  Hi, Alex. Thank you.
• 1:11
  Well, first of all, Trust Place, we are let's say experts in post
• 1:14
  purchase traceability and data. So what does it mean?
• 1:18
  It means that we help brands, fashion brands, but not only
• 1:23
  premium and extra brands to create digital passports which
• 1:28
  are associated between the product and the customer when
• 1:32
  the product is sold. So on top of improving
• 1:35
  authentication and ownership, this digital passport is also a
• 1:40
  link between the brand, the product and all their users.
• 1:44
  So we allow the brand to know the customers that they don't
• 1:47
  know. Today, for instance, when you
• 1:49
  buy a product in the Macy's or you know all sellers, the brand
• 1:52
  doesn't know you. Thanks to our system, now they
• 1:55
  are able to, to, to, to know you.
• 1:57
  But more than that, they are also able to know the usage of
• 2:01
  your product. And that's very important for a
• 2:03
  lot of topics such as sustainability, recyclability,
• 2:06
  etcetera, etcetera. Your second point was regarding
• 2:09
  the French, French Consulate, French Embassy.
• 2:11
  Yeah, we had a big delegation in NRF this year.
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  So we're with Business France, which is helping different
• 2:18
  brand, different French startup on international business.
• 2:23
  And that's, that's helpful because you can, you can meet
• 2:25
  different kind of start up in different topic, different
• 2:29
  business. And it's, it's always better to
• 2:32
  be to be in Group instead of investing alone in this kind of
• 2:37
  offshore, especially NRF, which is huge.
• 2:40
  Yeah. Just out of curiosity, before we
• 2:42
  go back to Trustplex, are you any?
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  Are you expoing anywhere else this year?
• 2:48
  Yeah, we did a lot of of show in Europe mainly.
• 2:53
  So we did, we did well, I'm not sure it's, it's, it's it's not
• 2:56
  as big as NRF for sure. But we are talking about Pari
• 3:00
  retail week. We are talking about retail
• 3:02
  take, we are talking about tech for retail.
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  We also did some private event together with some partner of us
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  such as Sejid. Sejid is one of the leader in
• 3:13
  the in the POS. So we did a we did a few show
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  this year, but NRF is definitely the the the biggest for.
• 3:22
  Sure. The largest.
• 3:22
  OK. All right.
• 3:23
  So let's go back to, I mean, I know there's legislation that's
• 3:26
  coming down regarding product passports in Europe.
• 3:30
  I, I have no idea how far away that is, but we can assume that
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  there will be a time where the products that go into making
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  garments, electronics, there has to be a whole life cycle.
• 3:44
  You have to be able to, to know where is it come from?
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  How do you repair it? How do you maintain it?
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  How do you recycle it and, and everything else.
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  And I guess is this the first step towards that type of level
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  of information about products or are you specifically, if you
• 4:02
  like, just focused on tying a product to a customer?
• 4:07
  Yeah. So trust Place has been created
• 4:11
  before this regulation in Europe.
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  So that was not our primary target.
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  Our primary target was really authentication but also customer
• 4:19
  knowledge. And it's true that the fact of
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  giving an identity to any product starting 2027, there
• 4:27
  will be different phases, not sure you can enter into the
• 4:30
  details here, but in Europe the the first phase is really
• 4:32
  starting in 2027. So it will become mandatory for
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  the brands, fashion, electronics, home furnitures,
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  the different category to to to prove this, this, this
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  information, this provenance, the the materials etcetera for
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  us is. That, sorry, is that that that
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  is law that will come into law in 2027.
• 4:53
  Yeah, it's regulation starting in 2027 and then there are
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  different step, but the first step, the first phase is really
• 5:00
  starting 2027. It was supposed to be in 25 I
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  think few years ago, but always there are some some delays and
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  now it's 2027. The the point is for as a
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  customer, that's beautiful, that's perfect.
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  Because when I will buy a product, I will know the
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  Providence, the origin, the materials, any kind of of
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  information, real information about what I'm buying.
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  But for the brand that's a regulation and it's only a cost.
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  It's in one way, okay, They have to do that and they have nothing
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  in return. So with trust place, our main
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  focus as I said was digital passport.
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  But we are using our digital passport to answer to this
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  regulation, but to make it profitable in two ways.
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  That means that we are using our digital passport to access to
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  the to the different product information for the customer,
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  but also the brand will have access to these customers.
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  So that's the first level of benefits, but also the brand
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  will be able to provide different kind of services such
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  as automatic and secure resale, some Canon repair information.
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  That's, that's, that's one is very important because the
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  brands will have the obligation to keep spare part for 10 years
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  as an example, but they cannot keep all the spare part of a
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  product for 10 years. It's impossible by know the
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  customer, but also by knowing the usage, we'll be able to know
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  that, for example, one of our customer is electric scooters.
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  We know that this spare part will be more useful than this
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  spare part and brand will be able to stock on a more focused
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  way the different spare part which would be really useful for
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  them. So it would be more profitable
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  for them to have this visibility.
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  And, and that's what we do with transplace.
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  We, we don't only answer to the regulation, but we, we bring
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  also benefits for the brand through our platform to do this
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  answer. Understood.
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  And So what category do you feel lends itself to transplace
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  product portfolio? So today there are two
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  dimensions. First of all, the brands we are
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  addressing remain premium and high end and luxury.
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  Yeah, yeah. And we are addressing them
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  within 4 vertical industry for the moment.
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  First one because it's our DNA in our, in our previous life,
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  we, we, we work a lot with them. It's fashion and luxury.
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  The second one is home furnitures.
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  We just signed linear Rosie. I don't know if you want to talk
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  about this later on, but linear Rosie is is one of the leader in
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  in this. So in so far, the third one is
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  electronics, high end goods, and the last one is mobility.
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  Mobility could be could be electric scooters, cars or
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  whatever. So this is are really the four
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  industries we are targeting. Why?
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  Because our platform makes sense for all of them.
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  Even if a scooter is different than a sofa, which is different
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  than a a pair of sneakers, they have the aromatics in term of
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  customer knowledge, in term of community, in term of
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  authenticity, and we are able to answer to that.
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  So if you took the first one, fashion and luxury, you do you
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  authentic, sorry, do you give every garment an identity?
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  So if I'm buying a Burberry jacket, a raincoat, trench coat
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  that they have, you know, at costs quite, you know, it's
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  quite significant, the investment in that.
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  But then apparently there's a life cycle to it, right?
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  You can take it in after X amount of years, you can have it
• 8:19
  serviced, you can have it mended.
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  Are you giving identities to garments?
• 8:24
  Yeah. So we are working with partner,
• 8:26
  specialised partner for that. But yes, this is the principle
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  because as I said at the beginning, we are really
• 8:30
  specialised in post purchase traceability.
• 8:33
  Traceability means you give to each product its own identity.
• 8:37
  Because I can buy a product, I can resell it, I can offer it
• 8:40
  the the the person I'm offering it can resell it as well.
• 8:44
  So the product had several lives now.
• 8:46
  So it, it must have his own identity.
• 8:49
  Today the, the, the identity we are, we are agnostic on that.
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  But we, we, we have to work with smartphone because today
• 8:56
  everybody has a smartphone. So this, this identity has to be
• 8:59
  simple for the, for the final customer.
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  So today we are working with the QR code, NFC chip and N grave
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  number. QR code.
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  Any smartphone can read it NFC now same an N grave number.
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  You can either enter it manually or use a Google Lens, for
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  example, to, to, to to captit automatically.
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  And within the same brand, if we take fashion and luxury, for
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  example, within the same brand, the product can have different
• 9:23
  identification method. For example, ready to wear will
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  be more if I take the best practise, ready to wear will be
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  more a QR code, which will be on the care label.
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  Yeah, leather goods and and shoes, sneakers, it will be more
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  NFC chip integrated inside the product.
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  At the manufacturing watching jewellery we are more talking
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  about the identification number engraved and we have to adapt to
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  that. And we are working with
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  specifies specific partners for that, that we are working with,
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  for, for, for for years now. Because once again we were in
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  this industry before and this partner are the most famous for
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  example is Avery Denison, she's the leader in RFIDNFCQR code
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  etcetera. So we work with them, they put
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  in place the the identification number and from there the brand
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  can use our platform. Got you.
• 10:12
  OK. And then the the furniture
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  example, you, was it a furniture company that you said that you
• 10:18
  recently won? Yeah, Linear Jose.
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  Yeah, the most famous product is, is the Togo.
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  The Togo so far is the is the most counterfeiting so far in
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  the world. It's very famous and it's that
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  was the primary target fight against counterfeiting.
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  Yeah, and tell me about it. So what's the story there?
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  So as I said, it's a family. It's a family company.
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  It's a very old French, Yeah, French, 100% made in France and
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  they are famous worldwide. They sell a lot in US in China
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  as well. So it's really a global company.
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  And as I said, the most iconic product is the Togo.
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  You know, it's the sofa which is very, very comfortable when you
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  see. I'm looking for it now.
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  But it's very expensive and, and, and Toga Togo being the,
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  the most counterfeited. So find the world.
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  Their primary idea was to use the digital passport to protect
• 11:12
  this, this product, to protect the product, but also the owner.
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  So we are talking about a digital certificate of
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  ownership, which are linking the product, the the owner plus
• 11:21
  other keys such as the invoice, etcetera.
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  It's blockchain protected in our platform.
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  And their main focus was really to to protect, to fight against
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  counterfeiting and parallel market.
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  Out of that, they have also developed services through our
• 11:34
  platform such as care and repair, such as measuring the
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  the recyclability, the the the sustainability information about
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  the the exactly is that. It OK.
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  And so that's also useful for because they are, they are also
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  under the, the, the European DPP regulation in 2027.
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  So that was also the, the, the the opportunity to, to make them
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  compliant to this to this regulation by providing final
• 12:02
  customers information about recyclability, resale, etcetera.
• 12:07
  So hypothetically, I I've bought this sofa.
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  This sofa comes with some form of identity inside it, whether
• 12:13
  it's an RFID, NFC tag, whatever it is, there's a chip of some
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  form in that. I come home, I verify the
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  identity on the trust place app. Or is it the app or, or is it
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  the retailers? Is it like a third party app?
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  Or is it is it all seamless? Is it all the the Togo company?
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  In that, in that case, it's a, it's a linear Ozy app.
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  So it's a we, we, we do it, but it's on the white table in our
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  platform. We have 3 components.
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  Maybe I can jump on that to, to it will be more easy to, to
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  understand. We have 3 components in our
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  platform. We have the digital certificate,
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  which is the, the, the vector of the city communication.
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  We have what we call a back office which is the central
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  administration console for the brands to have a visibility
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  about the customer, the traceability, post purchase
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  services etcetera, etcetera, which is connected to the
• 13:04
  different system of the brand. And you have the customer final
• 13:08
  customer interface which could be web-based or mobile app
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  depending on the brand. If it is web-based, we are
• 13:15
  talking about the, the, the, the, the certificate could be
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  retrieved by the customer within the, the customer account of the
• 13:22
  website. And if we are talking about the
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  mobile app, the customer will be able to find his certificate,
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  but also all the different services attached to the
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  certificate by downloading the, the brand of the, of the, of
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  the, the, the by downloading, sorry, the, the, the application
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  of the brand. So for Linear Jose, to answer to
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  your to your question very concretely, I'm I'm purchasing
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  a, a sofa. The identifier in that case is a
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  is AQR code, is a is a is a care label attached to the product
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  with the QR code. So there is also information
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  when I buy the product telling me this product is associated to
• 14:00
  a digital certificate to allow you blah blah blah blah blah
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  with a with a with a link to to a page to a web page to activate
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  to ask the activation of my certificate right?
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  I need to fill up the information regarding my first
• 14:15
  name, last name, e-mail address, place of of purchase as well.
• 14:21
  I need to upload my invoice as well.
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  Then when I have completed this, it's automatically sent to the
• 14:27
  back office of the brand. I, I don't have my certificate
• 14:30
  validated automatically. It's always going to the brand
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  and then we have a little bit of AI to check the visually the the
• 14:37
  invoice, make automatic comparison between the shipping
• 14:42
  place. Is it is it really the place
• 14:44
  where I have shipped my product etcetera, etcetera.
• 14:47
  When it's validated as a customer, I receive an e-mail
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  telling me, well, congratulation, welcome to the
• 14:53
  to the world of Linear Jose. To get your certificate, you
• 14:56
  need to download your application.
• 14:58
  If I don't have it already, I download it, I get my
• 15:01
  certificate and I get direct access to the services also that
• 15:05
  I can get with the product and certificate that I have
• 15:08
  purchased. And this is where the
• 15:10
  communication between the brand and the customers is going to to
• 15:14
  start. And in this example is Linear
• 15:18
  Jose, are they using this only on the most iconic items of
• 15:24
  furniture or are they looking to what's the vision there?
• 15:29
  So when we start a project with a brand, we never start with
• 15:34
  100% of the product, never. So we usually start with
• 15:38
  different category of skew different, different product,
• 15:41
  different region, it depends linearly.
• 15:43
  We have decided to start with the with the this iconic so far
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  because this is as I said the most counterfeited and this is
• 15:49
  the most iconic. But the plan is really to extend
• 15:51
  it to other category of products but also to other brand of the
• 15:56
  group. Because you know, Rosie is a
• 15:57
  group and you know Rosie is a famous brand, but they have
• 15:59
  other brand as well. And the step by step they want
• 16:02
  to extend it to other product category.
• 16:04
  We did the same for in fashion Isabel Mahon, which is one of
• 16:08
  our customer as well. We started with the suite
• 16:12
  switchers which are the one of the best seller and we extend it
• 16:17
  to almost 100% of the of the product category that's.
• 16:22
  Fantastic. Sorry, go on.
• 16:25
  No, no, it's, it's, it's a ramp up whatever the brand, it's
• 16:28
  really a ramp up from 1 scope. And this scope is going to to go
• 16:32
  further and further to 8090% of the of the totality of the
• 16:36
  product usually. How?
• 16:38
  How do you see the future? Final question, What's your
• 16:41
  vision of the future? Wow, that's a large question.
• 16:45
  The future of trust Place. The future of the digital.
• 16:47
  Yeah, no trust place. Where?
• 16:49
  Where? Where?
• 16:50
  What? What do you envisage?
• 16:52
  Well, definitely our, our, our idea is, is to become the, the,
• 16:56
  the leader in this digital certification large scale.
• 17:00
  I mean post purchase data and traceability.
• 17:02
  We invest a lot in data. Data is really key.
• 17:04
  Post purchase data is really key.
• 17:06
  Not only customers, as I said, of course we can bring, we can
• 17:09
  bring customer information to the different CRM that the brand
• 17:13
  doesn't know. When you buy a product in
• 17:14
  Macy's, as I said, the, the, the, the brand doesn't know you
• 17:18
  because you're a Macy's customer.
• 17:19
  That's, that's, that's, that's the first step.
• 17:22
  But by data, I mean really more business oriented data.
• 17:26
  This product has been purchased next time.
• 17:28
  This product has never been resold.
• 17:30
  This product is always purchased by.
• 17:32
  So all this category of data, we are able to provide it to the
• 17:36
  brand today. We are invested a lot in the in
• 17:39
  the next 18 months in order to increase, increase, increase
• 17:42
  this data. So in terms of products that's
• 17:45
  the the future for us. In terms of development for sure
• 17:47
  U.S. market is one of our primary target.
• 17:50
  Now we are going to extend in 2025.
• 17:53
  We have some shareholders New York based which are helping us
• 17:55
  a lot for that. But geographically, USUS is one
• 17:59
  of our ambition drop down. Understood video.
• 18:05
  Thank you so much for giving this time to come and tell us
• 18:08
  about your space. I look forward to maybe seeing
• 18:13
  you at another conference this year.
• 18:15
  My pleasure. I'll be very happy to do so.
• 18:17
  Thanks a lot. Thanks.
• 18:18
  Thank. You.