This interview is brought to you by GS1 US.

One-dimensional barcodes are transitioning to 2D barcodes, like QR codes, and retailers need to be ready for the change by the end of 2027. GS1 US®, the not-for-profit behind the Sunrise 2027 initiative, is leading the charge and helping both retailers and suppliers prepare for the next dimension of barcodes.

What hardware upgrades do retailers need for their technology to be ready for 2D barcodes?

One of the first steps is to take inventory of your existing equipment. An optical scanner is a necessity for reading 2D barcodes, and most current POS scanners include that. But the scanner also needs to be Sunrise capable—what I mean by that is that it needs to be set up to recognize the various barcode types and the syntaxes that will be part of the 2D barcode.

The syntax is the way the information is constructed in a barcode. There are two different ways to do this that the scanner could see. First is the element string, which is a string of numbers with application identifiers that tell you what a particular product is. And then there is what we call the GS1 Digital Link syntax, which is web resolvable. The scanner has to be able to see the potentially two different syntaxes, recognize the application identifiers that are presented, and then pull out the data and feed it to the POS system.

What about firmware updates to read these two different syntaxes?

Upgrades might be required to make sure the scanner can read the barcode, see the proper syntax and feed the right information to the POS. Every system is different and built with different principles over time, so each business’s process might look different. You should have clear requirements before figuring out your configuration components for firmware updates.

Continue reading “A Retailer’s Roadmap for Sunrise 2027” in the October issue of NACS Magazine.