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The Global Language of Business

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The Global Language of Business

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Additional Ways to Identify Products

While you can use your barcodes to easily sell, ship, and exchange items with your customers and trading partners—it’s just the beginning. Because your UPCs and barcodes rely on the power of GS1 Standards, you can now add new capabilities to your business that drive greater efficiency and enhance customer satisfaction. Here are a couple of examples.

Make Products Scannable by Smartphones via GS1 US Mobile Scan

GS1 US Mobile Scan helps you take barcodes to a new level. Acting like a barcode, it’s a nearly imperceptible digital watermark that’s integrated into your product’s packaging artwork, covering all surfaces without interfering with the brand or packaging design.

Consumers that scan your product’s package with a smartphone app can view related product information such as recipes, allergens, coupons, promotions, and videos. In addition, brand owners can change product information instantly and as often as they like. None of this is possible with a static QR code.

Retail locations can also scan packages with GS1 US Mobile Scan with an enabled point of sale (POS) scanning system. The scanner can read the Global Trade Item Number® (GTIN®) from any angle—supporting faster checkouts and improving the customer experience.

If you have a GTIN, you can create product packaging that can use GS1 US Mobile Scan, right now.

Product scanning

“See” Products to Better Track and Manage Them in Your Supply Chain With EPC-enabled RFID

An Electronic Product Code (EPC®) combines a GTIN with a unique serial number to identify individual products. Used with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging, it allows you to precisely trace individual products as they move through the supply chain. It also allows you to significantly improve inventory accuracy and on-shelf-availability by eliminating time-intensive, line-of-sight, manual methods.

Learn about EPC-enabled RFID
RFID image

Efficiently Manage and Use Barcode-based Paper and Digital Coupons

Whether paper-based or paperless, GS1 Standards have been helping the retail industry to consistently and quickly redeem coupons—delivering an auditable financial trail and an improved user experience.

Using the standards-based North American Coupon Code brands and retailers can ensure coupons are used for their intended merchandise—reducing coupon mis-redemption for lower priced/same brand items as well as fraud.

  • Brand owners can safeguard their premium-priced items, while driving high-value merchandise campaigns. The GS1 Company Prefix enables them to distinctly classify a specific brand to ensure those coupons are not used for lower priced/same brand items
  • Retailers can deliver a seamless consumer checkout experience—processing coupons at checkout while ensuring those coupons are not mis-redeemed
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In this publication, the letters “U.P.C.” are used solely as an abbreviation for the “Universal Product Code”, which is a product identification system. They do not refer to the UPC, which is a federally registered certification mark of the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) to certify compliance with a Uniform Plumbing Code as authorized by IAPMO.