Barcodes Explained Written By Barcode Solutions Online UK

Ok So What Are Barcodes

Standard retail, grocery, general store barcodes are a unique 8 digit, 12 digit or 13 digit number encoded in the lines you see above, each black and white line represents a number generally positioned below the barcode image, depending on the amount of numbers used in the barcode determines the overall height and width of the image. Some types of barcodes also have what is called a addon barcode which may contain additional characters like what is used on a book or magazine. The retailer (point of sale) enters in the barcode numbers into the database, adds a description, price and perhaps weight of the product so that each time that item is scanned it comes with the correct information. Errors some time occur when this information is entered incorrectly or the product has been put on special or gone up in price.

GS1 keep a central database of barcode numbers but they are not necassarily product specific. Major supermarkets do have a centralised database to allow reordering of the same product in different stores at the same time. This is still done by hand. General stock taking is done by floor workers to physically see what stock is left out on the shelves and then orders are placed manually on a centralised server to order in more stock.

So the idea is for each product to carry its own unique barcode number so it can be identified and a unique price be given. aThis information is general for supermarket stores. Other types of barcodes are more complicated like Pharamacodes used in the modical industry, drug stores and shipping barcodes which contain a lot more information then supermarket barcodes do.