Did you know that major online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Google prioritize products with proper UPC (Universal Product Code) identification? That’s right—without the right barcode, your listings could be hidden from potential customers.
Amazon states clearly on its seller website that it will verify products to ensure authenticity of the product and company it is linked to. eBay and Google have got similar guidelines. If you are going to sell successfully on these and other retailer platforms, it is important to come up to speed on barcodes.
If you are going to have discoverable products in a competitive marketplace, you have to consider correct identification and proper barcoding of your products. Proper barcoding optimises a business’ product’s visibility and ability to surface in the searches that come up when customers are shopping online.
Yet, many businesses fall into the trap of opting for third-party barcodes instead of authenticating their own. This can lead to misidentification, costly relabelling, and even jeopardize your brand’s integrity. Whereas the barcode will scan at checkpoint, the GTIN encoded in the barcode may not identify your brand. Barcodes that are purchased from 3rd party may identify another brand owner which may become an issue should a marketplace require that your brand be uniquely identified in your GTINs.
All this can be avoided by licensing an authorised GS1 company Prefix. GS1 is provides unique and globally acceptable barcodes that will be issued just your company. A GTIN is a series of numbers that recognises your brand- it has in it a unique number that identifies your company and a number that uniquely identifies you product.
With proper product barcoding, you can be assured of the following benefits; firstly, compliance with marketplace barcoding requirements is necessary for product listing. You don’t have your products enlisting at risk.
Secondly, the GTIN used for the physical products will be the same GTIN that will be used to sell products online. Thus, as a business owner you have inventory well-managed. Automating the inventory process saves time and reduces the risk of human error as no workers are required to take a physical inventory.
Proper barcoding is crucial in order to manufacture, store and ship and stock products; one can be sure of reaching their customer base.
When it comes to the checkout, the process is quick. Whether scanned at store or online, time spent on manual data entry is reduced.
You can be assured of consumer trust and regulatory compliance as it facilitates the tracking and tracing in the case of product recalls, quality control and ensuring product authenticity.