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Retail Industry, CPGs Support Switch from UPC to Data-Rich Barcode

Retailers and brands support a transition from UPC to 2D barcodes, watermarks, or RFID tags to provide consumers with more detailed product information and transparency and retailers with more supply chain data.

Banana with 2D barcode
Retailers and brands support a transition from UPC to 2D barcodes, watermarks, or RFID tags to provide consumers with more detailed product information and transparency and retailers with more robust supply chain data.

A new research study, “Powering the Future of Retail,” from information standards organization GS1 US has revealed that 82% of retailers and 92% of brand owners support transitioning from the UPC code to a data-rich 2D barcode (e.g., QR code, GS1 datamatrix), a digital watermark, and/or an RFID tag in the next one to five years. The study recognizes that an advanced data carrier is needed to evolve retail and provide consumers with detailed product information and transparency. Similarly, the study notes, retail trading partners will benefit from robust supply chain data. The next-generation barcode(s) to be chosen by industry will embed more information on product packaging and continue to leverage the GS1 Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) standard—the number encoded in the UPC that uniquely identifies a product at checkout.

Additionally, the research showed that while an estimated 68.5% of retailers use laser scanners incapable of reading a 2D barcode, 84% are evaluating or plan to migrate to advanced optical point-of-sale (POS) scanning technology. Also, 60% of tier 1 retailers ($1B+ revenue) are prioritizing updating their entire POS infrastructure in the next 18 to 24 months due to omni-channel commerce and mobile POS requirements.

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