In this second section of our blog about barcodes, we are going to explore when to use various barcodes to identify your products at retail and for shipping.
NotaZone's labelling module helps you to use any of these barcodes on your labels simply and easily.
The main use of product barcodes in 2026 is to enable shop tills (Point of Sale, or PoS systems) to identify your product and to charge the correct price.
For this purpose almost all PoS systems read EAN-13 barcodes (see GS1); a standard barcode format that present the item's GTIN number.
Less used formats are UPC-A EAN-8 and UPC-E and are described on the GS1 blog. These are not commonly used, but are available via NotaZone.
These barcode types only identify the product, not the batch or shelf-life. For that you need to use the more useful GS1 barcodes, described later in this series.
An EAN-13 barcode looks something like this this and contains a 13 digit number (the GTIN). This is used to identify a single unit of the product.
Wow! Is that everything I need to know in a few short sentences? Well, Yes...... and No.
An EAN-13 barcode is used to describe one unit of the product by itself and is usually printed on the product label.
When shipping lots of units inside a container (SRP, box, case, pallets, shipping container), you need to use a different barcode to identify it as more than one unit.
There are several ways to identify something that contains multiples the same product. This is often a box or cases of the product, packed for shipping and unpacked later for retail use.
If you are putting multiple products into one container, see our next blog for how to use SSCC numbers.
An ITF-14 barcode uses an extension to the GTIN, known as a GTIN-14. Simply, a 14 digit GTIN number.
This is made by following this process.
| Start with your GTIN | 506 038 993 000 1 |
| Remove the check digit from the end | 506 038 993 000 |
| Add the "packaging level" to the front (We are using 5 here) |
5 506 038 993 000 |
| Calculate a new check digit and add to the end | 5 506 038 993 000 8 |
No, you do not need to know about this as NotaZone's labelling module can do it for you. You simply set the packaging level in your label template and NotaZone will calculate the GTIN-14 for you.
The packaging level can be 0 to 9 and GS1 do not define how it should be used.
The only guidance is to use 0 where the packed itself may be traded through a PoS. That is your customer may sell individual units or a box of ten, say.
If you are looking for guidance, we suggest this unofficial list.
| PL | Use |
| 1 | SRP |
| 3 | Box (of SRPs) |
| 5 | Case (of boxes) |
| 7 | Pallet (of cases) |
| 9 | Shipping Container (of pallets) |
These are called "bearer bars" and are used to assist automated readers to find the barcodes quickly. The must be provided at the top and bottom, whereas the side bars are optional depending on how and where you print the barcode.
By convention, side bars are included when printing ITF-14 barcodes directly to the container material as opposed to using stick on labels.
The GS1 definition also has conditions for the quiet space around the barcode and should be reviewed before laying out a label template.