Enhanced capabilities
Linear or ‘one-dimensional’ barcodes have been the mainstay on retail and product packaging since the 1970s. However, they are slowly but surely being replaced by a newer technology: the two-dimensional barcode, or ‘2D code’, which can offer significant benefits to brands while still being used at the retail point of sale (POS).
The main difference between 2D codes and linear barcodes is that 2D codes, such as QR codes, can hold significantly more data, and can also usually be read by smartphones without the use of a specialist app. In addition to freeing up label space for innovative packaging designs and consumer marketing material, brands using 2D codes can embrace the additional data capabilities to provide more product information throughout their supply chains.
While replacing linear barcodes is not mandatory, adopting 2D codes offers brands a significant opportunity to improve the visibility of their total supply chain – both upstream, by facilitating data sharing and visibility from suppliers, and downstream, by providing the capability to visualise products’ journeys within retail and in the hands of consumers.
QR codes powered by GS1
Global standards organisation GS1 has developed a new standard to help brands migrate from linear barcodes to 2D codes, or more specifically, to QR codes powered by GS1. While linear barcodes contain just a standard GSI product ID (also known as the GTIN), QR codes powered by GS1 hold additional GS1 identifiers (e.g. product lot, batch, and serial numbers), which act as links to digital content tailored to the exact product in your hand. While standard QR codes link to one static webpage, QR codes powered by GS1 can connect to multiple different web addresses depending on the device or application used to scan the code.
In this way, QR codes powered by GS1 facilitate data sharing in everything from shipping and logistics to aftersales support, consumer marketing, and end-of-life management.
GS1 Identifiers facilitating downstream visibility
Batch, lot, and expiration data
Data that facilitates the identification of products down to the batch level can provide significant benefits for brands – not least the ability to manage ingredient changes, product issues, and recalls more effectively and ensure that consumers are given the correct information for the product they have purchased.
Including batch information within a 2D code allows brands to update and adjust web content for each batch. This can help brands identify where issues have arisen that might cause problems further downstream, e.g. suppliers linked to certain batches of products associated with an increase in returns and/or complaints that could indicate a problem with quality.
Batch information contained within 2D codes can also be used to more effectively manage recalls by more easily tracing the information back to specific suppliers where an issue may have occurred and stopping sales of affected batches. The target webpage can also be updated to include a recall announcement – accessible not just to consumers but also to everyone involved within the product’s supply chain.
Additional data, such as expiry dates for perishable items, can also bring downstream benefits, allowing expiration dates to be automatically captured by inventory systems to facilitate visibility of the age of food items on the shop floor and in the warehouse. Retailers can use this information to remove expired stock and prevent products from making it past the POS. The same information can be used as part of a dynamic pricing strategy to allow automatic mark-downs at the POS for items nearing expiration, incentivise purchasing, and help reduce food waste.
Serialisation
QR codes powered by GS1 can also enable brands to individually identify each product using a unique, embedded serial number. Serialised 2D codes are already required in specific industries, including life sciences and tobacco, for anti-counterfeiting, consumer safety, and legislative purposes.
On the brand side, serial numbers can facilitate lifetime traceability for products and provide greater insight into how products move through supply chains and where they end up. This increased product visibility can help brands identify instances of product divergence and leakage and run their supply chains more efficiently.
Serial numbers will likely be a requirement for future digital deposit return schemes. In such instances, unique identification numbers provide the control needed to ensure that packaging is only returned once and allow brands to monitor returns to ensure that only high-quality, clean packaging is reused.
Serial numbers are also essential in gaining additional insight into product purchasing trends, as brands can access information on the number of products bought (and scanned), where products may be scanned by a consumer without being purchased, and how consumers are engaging with products post-purchase.
Serialised QR codes will also allow for enhanced consumer interaction, with the potential to tie individual products back to POS data. Brands can use these codes to provide consumers with access to personalised or product-specific information, communications, and experiences based on individual consumer interactions.
Getting started with 2D codes
GS1’s new standard offers almost limitless flexibility, allowing brands to create and use 2D codes according to their individual needs.
As brands seek to enhance their supply chain visibility – both upstream and in the last mile – now is the time to start thinking about migrating from linear barcodes to QR codes powered by GS1.