QR Codes Are Replacing Barcodes: How Should Retailers Greet Them?

The non-profit organization behind barcodes, GS1 is promoting the global transition from one-dimensional barcodes to two-dimensional barcodes before 2027. What does it mean to retailers? How should they embrace this change?

What’s the difference between barcodes and QR codes?

1. Appearance. It’s easy to distinguish between one-dimensional barcodes and two-dimensional barcodes. The former is a row of vertical stripes of varying widths, and the latter is a square that is two-dimensional. What a barcode represents is a long number while a QR code is a link to data or webs.
2. Information quantity. Liner barcodes contain limited information on the product type that couldn’t be updated. In contrast, QR codes can provide more information that can be updated dynamically.
3. Decoding tool. The 1D codes require a 1D barcode scanner and 2D codes can be decoded by 2D barcode scanners and smartphones. QR codes provide more convenience for customers to get access to more product information.

Why QR codes are rising in the retail sector?

1. More environmentally friendly. Since QR codes contain more information, product manufacturers don’t have to make great efforts on the packaging. They can replace detailed product information with 2D barcodes. More packaging material can be saved, which is more friendly to the environment.
2. More flexibility to product manufacturers. The manufacturers could directly update the information on the web pages instead of replacing product packages. In addition, they could update promotion information regularly without the worry of information delay.
3. More convenience to customers. Now most smartphones support the function of QR code scanning, and thus customers could get access to more information about the products they purchase by self-service scanning the barcodes.

How will this change affect retailers?

1. Inventory management. Retailers are able to monitor and manage inventory efficiently by virtue of commodity barcodes and barcode scanners. By identifying the commodity barcodes, operators could clearly know when the commodities are entered or exited. No one can deny that the barcode is a useful tool for retailers to conduct asset tracking.

Replacing stripe barcodes with QR codes affect the retailers who are using 1D barcode scanners to decode, and they are advised to upgrade their decoding devices. If the PDA terminal and retail POS that are being used by retailers support QR code decoding, there this barcode revolution will put no influence on these retailers.

• Checkout. The other aspect being affected is the checkout process of the retail scenarios. In the checkout process, barcode scanning is a necessary part. Barcode scanning greatly improves the efficiency of checkout and inventory tracking. According to the statics, about 70,000 items are sold by scanning codes every second all over the world.

To embrace this barcode revolution, retailers had better check whether their retail POS terminals support 2D code decoding or not. If not, it’s a good idea for them to consider upgrading the POS hardware.

How to embrace the change in barcodes?

Retailers don’t have to worry too much about the QR code replacement. In a very long time, 1D barcode and 2D barcode may co-exist. However, with the rise of QR codes in retail scenarios, still using 1D barcode scanners may be out of date. In the long term, it’s a worthy investment to purchase retail POS that supports QR code scanning.

Telpo, a smart retail POS terminal and solution provider, has developed a wide variety of POS terminals, empowering you to embrace this barcode change better.

Telpo retail POS

Telpo has launched a wide variety of smart cash registers. With rich interfaces, Telpo retail POS terminals can be easily connected to external QR code scanners. It provides a great convenience for retailers and they only need to replace the QR code scanners on the day when two-dimensional codes completely replace one-dimensional codes.

Telpo self-service kiosk

Telpo has developed a series containing self-service kiosks of various sizes. With a 2D barcode scanner built-in, both commodity codes and payment codes can be identified. Of course, there is a 1D code scanner for you to select. In virtue of the modular design, it’s easy for you to replace the 1D/2D scanner when needed.

Telpo has more than 20 years of manufacturing and customization experience and has served customers from 120+ countries. Welcome to contact us for more details. We have the confidence to boost your business.

Tag: QR codes, retail POS, barcodes, barcode scanner