Humans like to buy stuff – shock, horror, it’s true.
Even the most prudent amongst us have, at least once in our lives, stepped out of that comfort zone to indulge in a little bit of retail therapy. Whilst filling up that trolley, have you ever taken a second to consider a little piece of tech which has made it all possible?
Yes, I am talking about barcodes, those funny little black and white stripes that adorn the packaging of almost every retail product on earth.
In essence, a barcode is a code-word (made up of numbers, letters, or both) which is used to keep track of a single product within the web of chaos that is the modern retail environment.
When you decide to sell a product in a retail store, you will be assigned your very own barcode number. This number is converted, using fancy software, into the collection of the black and white stripes that you are familiar with. The laser scanners at shopping tills are able to read this digital image and instantaneously determine the exact size, quantity and cost of the product in question.
How do barcodes operate? Well, it’s quite simple really. As mentioned, when you have decided to sell your product, you will be assigned your own unique barcode number or code, which is then converted into a barcode image which you will place onto your product packaging.
When you get your product listed with a retailer, they will ask you to fill out what is called a product information form. This form allows to provide all the relevant details of your product, from its weight and cost, through to its constituent ingredients. You will also fill out your own company details and contact information. Finally, at the bottom of the form, you will be asked to write down your unique barcode number.
Once completed, the retailer will then log all this information into their inventory and sales system, and from this point onwards, whenever your particular barcode number is scanned at the shopping till, your account will be credited with a sale and the store will automatically log that this item has left its inventory. It’s as simple as that.
I cannot overstate the extent to which bar codes have revolutionised the retail industry as we know it. Here are some brief examples:
- They have reduced the time it takes to process a standard shopping cart by as must as 75%, resulting in drastically reduced lines and higher turnovers.
- They have simplified the inventory and stocking requirements for large stores. While, in the past, regular manual stock takes were the order of the day for almost all shop employees, these days it is all done digitally, much to delight of the your tired shop assistants.
- They have increased the security of branded products. Due to the fact that barcodes can only be used once for a single product, counterfeit or fake products can easily be identified due to the fact that they will necessarily have a different barcode number to the original, making it easy for retailers to identify and root our fraudulent suppliers.
There are three extremely common barcode types in existence, each of which has a specific purpose and use within the retail space:
- UPC Codes – These are 12-digit numbered codes which are used for all retail products within the USA and Canada. Due to the fact that bar codes were invented in the U.S., they have a code type all to themselves.
- EAN Codes – These are 13-digit numbered barcodes which are used for standard retail products in all countries outside the USA and Canada, including South Africa. Chances are that if you pick up a random product from anywhere in the world, the barcode on it will be of the EAN variety.
- ISBN Codes – These are 13-15 digits long and can contain both numbers and letters. ISBN codes are used for any and all books. Every book published is assigned its own ISBN number which is then logged with national libraries throughout the world. This allows a student in a library in Rome to track down a book from another library anywhere in the world. Because of the digital nature of the technology, the internet has opened up a world of possibilities.
What does the future hold? Well, that is the million dollar question. Whilst no one is quite sure which direction the industry will take, there have been some promising developments in recent years which could take off in a big way:
- QR codes – These are the funny square barcodes that you will see all over the place on social media and the like. These barcodes are used to link to websites, and can be configured to operate on any smart phone device. Some ingenious tech companies have worked out that these codes can also be used to make secure payments online, using your phone camera. This has sparked a revolution in payment gateways across the world, with everyone from the postman to the pizza delivery guy now being able to process credit card payments quickly and securely from their smart phones.
- 3D barcodes – While still relatively new and undiscovered, 3D barcodes hold great promise. Due to an added dimension of operation, 3D barcodes are able to store significantly more information than your standard code types. Like the CD was to the floppy disk, who know where this innovation will lead.
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