Dive Brief:

• Supply chain verification and visibility solutions startup Segura Systems employs technology to help retailers track aspects of their supply chain, including the working conditions at factories. The tech tracks retailers' direct suppliers, contract factories, and retailers' extended supply chain. 

• While the fire and collapse of a Bangladesh factory in 2013 was widely seen as a wake-up call to improve working conditions in the vast garment manufacturing space there, there has been little real improvement, many activists say. 

• Founded four years ago, the company just announced its Series A funding round of 2 million pounds from European venture capital firm Octopus Ventures.

Dive Insight:

In the age of omnichannel, it has become especially imperative that retailers have good control over their supply chains. And while much of that need is for the purpose of ensuring that the supply chain is speedy and efficient, a system like Segura’s also brings a new level of transparency to working conditions at overseas factories.

That issue has continued to bedevil many retailers, especially apparel retailers, since the Rana Plaza factory collapse.

The issues are so widespread and so dire that progress has been understandably slow to some extent, but in some cases progress is impeded by a lack of will and resources. One of the sticking points is that many factory owners ignore problems if they believe their buildings are under the radar.

That would be much harder to do if retail companies can outsource the scrutiny of the factories, including those further down the supply chain.

Of course, retailers must have the will to find and correct problems of low pay and unsafe working conditions.

Younger shoppers are especially sensitive to those issues, and in several surveys have indicated that they prefer to shop at retailers that source their products sustainability and humanely, even if things cost more. But it’s not clear that even those who say the issue is important to them actually avoid retailers that have had mixed records.

If transparency gets easier and it becomes easier to see which retailers do or don’t attend to those issues, consumers may increasingly include such details in their purchase decisions.