Pharma Impurity Conclave 2023

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Importance of barcode and development in barcode labelling

Use of GS1 barcodes on product labels ensures 100% accurate & automated data capture

If you are a brand owner, running a successful business is never an easy task. It includes managing data and record-keeping for products. Manual processes make it time consuming and tedious. On the other hand, barcodes help businesses in capturing accurate data with a simple scan.

GS1, a global standards organisation, develops the standards for barcodes, besides allocating unique barcode numbers to help brand owners assign a unique identity to their products. GS1 barcode number is a de-facto retailing standard and enables companies to sell their products through modern retail channels (in-store and online), besides helping them enhance the visibility of their product pages. In India, GS1 India is only authorised body to allocate GS1 barcode numbers. 

Set up in India by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, GS1 India is a standards organisation that works in tandem along with other apex bodies and institutions, with an objective to help Indian Industry in adopting global GS1 standards in their supply chains to enhance efficiency and profitability.

At GS1 India, the target is to reach out to SMEs, manufacturers and brand owners to register with GS1 global standards to enhance their businesses & get the recognized in the marketplace, sell their products through various retail or online channels. To sell products, manufacturers or retailers need to have a barcode labeled on it to give unique identification to their products, enhancing their visibility in the supply chain. They can also get a DataKart subscription where they can easily upload and share reliable, accurate product information which is seen by their customers through Smart consumer apps. 

GS1 standards help leading sectors like Pharma, FMCG, Agri to work efficiently in supply chain and inventory management along with many more services which will help SME's and local manufacturers, Kirana store to boost up their efficiency in Inventory management and to reduce human errors. GS1 services also helps in tackling and reduction of counterfeiting of products in India. GS1 India is working with statutory bodies of the Government like FICCI, CII to boost up local manufacturers and growth of Indian economy.

Some of the benefits of labelling your products with GS1 barcode numbers are as follows:

1. Universal identification to products
GS1 barcode numbers provide universally unique identification to products. Every product is encoded with unique product code, which can be linked to a plethora of product information. A simple scan of the product barcode can provide this information. A product barcode number further enables authentication of the registered owner of barcode number, and hence, brand owner of the product, helping retailers/online marketplaces to distinguish between product lookalikes.

2. Enhance products online search results
One of the main highlights of labeling a product with GS1 barcode numbers is that they help in boosting products search ranking when used in page code. Google has revealed a 40% increase in product search performance by using a barcode number on the company's website or page, resulting in higher brand exposure and potentially attracting more business.

3. Sell products to leading retailers and online shopping sites
To be able to sell through major retailers and online shopping sites, manufacturers have to label products with GS1 barcode numbers (GTINs). Online marketplaces use unique GS1 Standards to manage their vast product catalogues and also to help shoppers find, compare and buy products more easily.

4. Facilitate Inventory Management
Effective product inventory management is about having the right product in the right position and in the right quantity at the right time. GTINs enable monitoring of products as they pass across the supply chain, allowing effective inventory management.

5. Barcode management with DataKart service
Manufacturers who label their products with GTINs starting with ‘890’ also get access to GS1 India’s DataKart service, a cloud-based portal where they can easily assign and manage GTINs for their products and share it with various retailers seamlessly in one go which helps in avoiding of duplication of barcodes. GTIN starting with ‘890’ are allocated by GS1 India.

DataKart service also enables manufacturers to:
• View of all products information, their attributes, images, etc. from a single screen
• Generate barcode images to use on packaging artwork
• View complete product lifecycle

To know more about GTINs, visit : www.gs1india.org / www.kairosmarcom.com