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~ Lorna Leaver ~

COLUMN

INDUSTRY STANDARDS, BARCODES AND HOW TO COMPLY…

Are you a buyer? A merchandiser? A supply-chain manager? A sales assistant? – in fact just about anyone
working in retail will be affected by poor product identification.

n the world of supply-chain standards, it is easy to What does the barcode actually enable?
get confused about what you should and shouldn’t To put it simply, the barcode is a “key” that unlocks the infor-
Ido. Trying to create a single working process that is mation associated with the items you are enquiring about. The
applicable to all businesses is not easy, and it is not always best example of this is scanning a product at a checkout to get
possible either. However, trying to do so is precisely the the price of the product from the retailer’s database, in order
main goal for us here at GS1. to sell it to the consumer.

When we talk about supply-chain standards, we mean the journey Why do I need barcodes if I only sell online? I thought you
that the product takes from creation to sale – including listing and only needed a barcode for scanning in-store.
entering product data online – to reach the customer and back When done correctly, the identification of the product should
again, if returns take place. be the same wherever it goes, irrespective of whether a prod-
uct is sold online, offline or across different retail channels.
As a membership community, we get a lot of questions from new
members trying to grapple with these strange new processes. So, to Even in e-commerce, there have to be clearly delineated
help give you a head start, we wanted to clarify some of our most supply chains to get the product from point A to point B,
frequently asked questions. You might be surprised that the reach whether that is seller fulfilled or via a third party. This “key” is
and effect of the humble barcode goes a lot further than you think. how it is done.

Does everyone use barcodes? Do you just do barcodes for products?
GS1 has more than two million member businesses around the No, although many people think this. We are able to provide
world. The barcode, having been around for over 40 years, is so em- industry standards for the whole supply chain, both online
bedded in modern life that the majority of retailers, both online and and offline. GS1 is all about making it possible to identify
offline, require a unique product identifier from GS1 as standard. anything, obtain the information about it and share it with
anyone who needs it.
These numbers are sometimes known by their old names of Euro-
pean Article Number (EAN) or Universal Product Code (UPC), Are there rules for allocating barcodes to products?
but they are collectively known as Global Trade Item Numbers or The short answer is yes. A GTIN should be applied at the
GTINs. GTINs are like a passport number for products – they en- base-unit level, sometimes called a child or SKU level.
able goods to be traded with anyone, anywhere in the world.
However, once the product is put up for sale, it will naturally
Every household name you can think of will ask you for a GS1 undergo product development changes. These changes need to
GTIN in order to trade with them – Amazon, Zalando, Fruugo, be managed so that any affected parties can tell the difference
John Lewis, Tesco etc., and even outside of retail in the world of between different versions of the same product.
healthcare. To sell within the NHS, you need GS1 GTINs.
For example, if you decrease the size of a chocolate bar by 30
Does the barcode number mean anything? per cent to comply with the sugar tax, that chocolate bar will
Yes, it does. The number can tell you the country where a need a new GTIN.
product was registered – although this should not be confused
with where it was manufactured. It can also tell you which To keep it simple, we have three guiding principles – if
company a product is registered to. a consumer, regulation or supply chain is affected by the
changes to a product, then it needs a new GTIN.

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