Mon, Apr 03, 2023 page11

• Turning 50, barcode’s days may be numbered

  • AFP, PARIS
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  The patch of irregular vertical lines that revolutionized checking out at the supermarket and facilitated the globalization of retail is turning 50.

  However, as the barcode celebrates its birthday, its days might be numbered, as it faces competition from the younger QR code, the information-filled squares used by smartphones.

  The trademark beep as a product is scanned is heard about 6 billion times per day across the world, as about 70,000 items are sold each second.

  

  A woman wears a barcode mask during a protest in Berlin on Nov. 27, 2017.

  Photo: Reuters

  It has become so integrated in the shopping experience that it is easy to forget how much the technology revolutionized retail by speeding up the checkout process and giving retailers the ability to trace products and better manage inventory.

  The barcode not only identifies a product, but “gives professionals in stores access to other functionalities,” said Laurence Vallana, country manager for France at SES-Imagotag SE, a company that specializes in electronic tagging.

  Barcodes were initially patented by engineers Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver in the US in 1952.

  However, it was not until nearly two decades later, in 1971, that US engineer George Laurer perfected the technology and moves toward its commercialization began.

  On April 3, 1973, the standard to identify products was agreed by a number of large retailers and food companies. It later became known as EAN-13, which stands for European Article Number and the number of digits in the barcode.

  The following year, on June 26, the first product was scanned: a pack of chewing gum sold in Ohio that is now in the National Museum of American History in Washington. Today, non-governmental organization Global Standard 1 (GS1) manages the barcode system and counts about 2 million firms as members.

  It provides companies with a unique “global trade item number” for each product, which is then translated into the barcode. Each firm must pay an annual fee based on their sales, up to nearly US$5,000 per year.

  However, the humble barcode will soon give way to another standard developed by the organization, said Renaud de Barbuat and Didier Veloso, the respective heads of GS1 Global and GS1 France.

  The new standard, based on QR, or Quick Response code, is likely to be introduced in 2027.

  If barcodes have been compared to prison bars by critics of the overcommercialization of society, the Chinese game go with its white and black pieces on a square board was the inspiration for the QR code’s Japanese creator, Masahiro Hara.

  Developed in 1994, QR codes can hold much more information as they are read horizontally, like barcodes, as well as vertically.

  Instead of having to search a database for information to go along with a product, the QR code can integrate information directly, such as the composition of the product and recycling instructions.

  GS1 believes moving to the QR code format allows sharing far more information about products and content, enabling new uses that would be accessible to consumers and retailers.

  As smartphones can read QR codes, they are an easy way to send people to Web sites to get additional information, leading to their widespread adoption by companies, artists and even museums. They are even used by payment systems.

  However, barcodes are likely to remain in place for years to come as the world gradually transitions to QR codes.
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