If you’re a Business owner with a new product launch, are you wondering if your label needs to have a barcode? Maybe you already have an existing product out on the market but you’re thinking of putting a barcode on the label. Like many other business owners, you might be uncertain whether or not there is a real need to use barcodes. Here is some information about specific business needs and how having a barcode addresses those needs.
Your Retail Business Need A Barcode?
I want to keep better inventory of products with minimal errors.
Using barcodes can help you track your product inventory better, particularly if you have a large product line with diverse items. A special barcode can be created to best suit your system of product inventory and numbering. When you have a barcode on your product labels, you can easily use a barcode scanner to scan the barcode instead of relying on manually taking inventory. This will save you both time and money as well as minimize the risk of errors significantly.
As you can imagine, it can be detrimental to your business if your operations or supply chain contains inaccurate information. Such errors can lead to lost business and an increase in operating costs. Data is one of the most critical assets of any business, so you want to ensure that the information your business is using is reliable. This is where barcode labels are very helpful.
For example, if you have a product with many variations such as 30 different flavors, it may be difficult to keep track of the inventory of that product per flavor. Affixing a barcode label using a state-of-the-art scanner from companies like Shopify onto finished products while they are in inventory will make it easy when an order arrives to ensure the right item is being picked for shipping to a customer.
I want to avoid fraud.
The manufacture of counterfeit and pirated products has become more commonplace today, and this illegal activity can have an economic impact to your business or industry. Some of the most widely counterfeited product labels are those for fashion items, wines, and pharmaceutical drugs. The rate with which counterfeiting is expanding is so incredible that controlling it has become a serious challenge to authorities. The U.S., being the largest consumer market in the world, is impacted in particular. The International Chamber of Commerce has estimated that 2.5 million jobs have been lost due to counterfeiting.
As counterfeiters become even smarter about committing their crimes, one of the best ways business owners can prevent fake products from entering the retail market is to use barcode labels. If you have a product that is highly at risk of being counterfeited, you can use your product label and packaging to stop such activities. By creating your own barcode which will have specific information about your product, buyers can guarantee they are buying a genuine product. It is also gives assurance to retailers that your product is legitimate and can safely reach consumers.
I want to drive mobile traffic to my online store.
One of the marketing tools that many businesses are using today is the Quick Response or QR code, which is a newer 2D type of barcode that can be read and interpreted by mobile devices. It can contain bigger amounts of data than traditional one-dimensional codes like a UPC barcode. Originally, these codes were used for industrial applications but businesses today print labels with these QR codes and use them on offline marketing and advertising campaigns to connect customers to their websites, online stores, social networking platforms and online marketing pages. With the advanced technology of smart phones, consumers can simply use their device to scan a QR code and be able to browse a brand’s website. Some companies add QR codes to their labels to attract customers with deals and coupons. QR codes can create a seamless and constant connection between your brand and your consumers.
Getting a Barcode on a Retail Product
There is no law that mandates the use of a barcode on retail product labels, however having one is required by most distributors and retailers for the purpose of inventory tracking and sales records. If you’re planning to make your products available for sale in the retail market, you should definitely get a barcode from GS1, which is the official and global barcode number source. When you get a GS1 barcode, you can be sure that GS1 will assign and register a unique number that will identify your business as the manufacturer of the product. You will be provided with a distinct 12 digit Universal Product Code (UPC) or EAN identification number, which you will enter into your barcode labels. A registered barcode is embedded with specific information about a retail product so when it is scanned, the data is already in the system for instant product identification.
