Retail Tech Insights: Specials Magazine

Every product on a retail shelf carries a story of compliance, innovation and consumer trust. Behind some of the most successful stories is Trace One, a premium SaaS product lifecycle management (PLM) and regulatory compliance software provider, enabling food and beverage, cosmetics and personal care, and specialty chemical brands and private label retailers to turn product ideas into successful launches. The company’s PLM platform unites the various stages of product development to help its clients deliver outcomes that meet consumer expectations and regulatory demands with speed and confidence. By combining compliance checks, collaboration tools and data-driven insights at every step, the platform streamlines the complex processes, whether it is formulating a sugar-free yogurt for diverse markets or designing sustainable packaging for a new snack line. “Every brand wants to communicate its values to consumers. We provide the tools to back up those claims with real data, so their messaging is credible and measurable,” says Antoine Daviet, Chief Product Officer at Trace One. Meeting the Needs of Manufacturers and Retailers Each sector Trace One serves presents unique challenges, and the platform is customizable to adapt to them. Manufacturers, primarily in food and beverages, cosmetics and specialty chemicals, use the PLM platform to connect marketing briefs with formulation tools, while ensuring compliance and facilitating innovation. Consequently, Trace One enables them to gain real-time insights that help assess raw materials against regulations, targets and nutritional claims, rather than relying purely on trial and error. As formulas are aligned with business goals before production, the platform captures and safeguards years of data, protecting every product’s intellectual property and institutional knowledge even when teams change. Private label retailers rely on Trace One to manage sourcing, supplier relationships, and product data for their private labels, offering them the scale required to compete on price, quality, and brand identity. The platform supports ESG goals by enabling sustainable packaging, supplier audits, and ethical sourcing compliance. More than meeting standards, Trace One helps brands communicate their sustainability and nutrition stories with credibility, strengthening consumer trust and deepening brand loyalty. Food service businesses, like restaurant and catering chains, also benefit from using Trace One. The platform gives them visibility into ingredients, suppliers and recipes at scale, ensuring menu items meet nutritional standards, labeling rules and customer expectations. A strong example of Trace One’s impact is its partnership with UNFI, a leading food and consumer goods company with 58 distribution centers across North America. To manage rapid growth and integrate more than 500 suppliers, UNFI partnered with Trace One to digitize its supply chain and standardize product data. By replacing legacy systems with Trace One PLM, the company improved compliance, accelerated product launches, and delivered greater transparency across sales, marketing, and supplier networks. Today, UNFI uses the platform as its gold standard to fuel growth and strengthen customer trust. In addition, Trace One PLM integrates with existing enterprise systems like ERP and CRM, ensuring cross-functional visibility and coordination across operations, marketing and R&D teams.