An innovative Australian businesswoman found that having the right, authorised GS1 BarCodes on your products can make a world of difference when dealing with one of Australia’s biggest retailers.
As a new entrant into retail, Rachael searched the Internet for barcodes for her products and found an online re-seller that purported their bar code numbers were legitimate and fit for use in retail. Buying these in good faith, Rachael applied them to her products and began using these numbers in her barcodes. It became apparent that the numbers were not unique, nor able to be used in retail.
Rachael contacted GS1 Australia, who quickly identified that Rachael would not be able to use the bar code numbers that had been sold to her online as they were allocated to another organisation. The impact of having to change to registered barcodes can be significant to a supplier if they have already printed packaging or labels with these incorrect barcode numbers. The cost to reprint can run into thousands of dollars. The product owner then has to decide whether to re-print their product packaging or whether to apply a bar code sticker over the original bar code. Both options can involve considerable extra expense.
Further, where the bar code numbers have already been entered into systems by retailers, unaware of the potential duplication, they would need to delete the product and re-enter the new product information, including the new bar code number, in their computer system, with the risk of confusion in stores. Once her products were re-bar coded, Rachael used GS1 Australia’s Bar Code Testing Service to ensure her GS1 BarCodes would scan correctly at point of sale.
GS1 Australia tests more 90,000 barcodes each year to ensure that products sent into major retailers scan correctly. GS1 Australia provides a printed report for each item tested to confirm the bar code on the product meets the GS1 standards. Rachael required several GS1 Australia Bar Code Verification Reports for Supercheap Auto, one of Australia’s leading retailers of automotive parts and accessories.