Retail :- Implementing EAN/UPC Barcodes on retail products

Implementing EAN/UPC Barcodes on retail products

The following steps needs to be followed for implementation of barcoding on retail products (Stock Keeping Units)






Step 1. Registration with EAN-India:



Companies need to get registered with EAN-India to get a unique company prefix. This unique company prefix identifies the company. The number of digits in company prefix depends on the number of product types (or SKU’s) you have indicated in the EAN/UPC application form submitted to EAN India.





Step 2. Read the Implementation Guide:



It is suggested that you read the implementation guide provided to you by EAN India at the time of registration (which may be in the form of CD/Book). Implementation guide provides introduction about bar coding, EAN.UCC standards, its uses and how to proceed for the implementation of the same.

Step 3. Product code allocation:



Use the company prefix allotted to you on registration, allot product code to all your product types. The product code that you will give to your product types will comprise of three parts:



a. Company prefix: This is the company prefix allotted to you on registration by EAN India.



b. Item Id: The next few digits should be used by a company to allocate Item Id’s to each of its products for identification. For example for the products



Gulab Jamun Mix 100gms - Item Id may be 00001

Gulab Jamun Mix 200gms carton - Item Id may be 00002

Idli Mix 200gms - Item Id may be 00003



Different Item Id’s should be allocated to products for different packaging sizes, different colors, different variants, and different constituents.

Please note the length of the Item Id depends on length of company prefix allocated.



c. Check Digit: The last digit is the check digit, which is a number calculated according to the algorithm called modulo 10. Check digit calculators are available on the following page on EAN India website http://www.eanindia.com/SERV/checkdgt.htm and in the implementation CD provided.



An example has been given below:



8 9 0 4 0 0 0 X X X X X C has been allotted to you. 8 9 0 4 0 0 0 is your prefix which will be common for all the product codes. The Item Id’s given for products and check digits have been given below:





Product Company Prefix Item Id allocated Check digit using calculator Product Number

Gulab Jamun Mix 100 gms 8904000 00001 0 8904000000010

Gulab Jamun Mix 200 gms 8904000 00002 7 8904000000027

Idli Mix 200gms 8904000 00003 4 8904000000034





Step 4. Entry of product codes into www.eanindia.org:



The product codes allocated in Step 3 need to be entered into the website www.eanindia.org. This will give you two benefits:

1) Approval of the allocated product codes can be done online by EAN India

2) Your company and product data will become a part of a worldwide buyer-seller database, which will give a lot of visibility to your products in the national and international markets.



Steps to enter product details into www.eanindia.org :



a. Log in to www.eanindia.org. In the “User Name” field at the bottom of the screen, enter your EAN/UPC Company prefix. The password has been communicated in the letter sent to you at time of registration. (You are advised to change the default password immediately by clicking on “Change Password “)

b. Choose option “Add / Modify Products” on the left side of the screen. You can now access “Product management ”. You can now click on “Add” button and enter details of each product including Segment, Product category, Sub category, GTIN (This is the number allocated in Step 3, Product Name, Height, Width, Length, Weight/ Volume of product, Customs Harmonized code if relevant to your product.

c. Click “Submit” - On submitting, product information will come for product approval to EAN-India.

d. The above steps (a – c) need to be repeated for each of your product types.

e. The Products after approval from EAN-India will be available for various search features on the site. To check on your status of approval go for Steps a & b click “Approval Status summary” after login. This gives you a list of approved and not approved products of your company.



EAN India has launched a new enhanced feature to enable hosting of product images. To view details of the service please click on the following URL: http://www.eanindia.org/Ean/Ean_Letter.html

Step 5. Barcode Printing:

Now that the complete numbers for all the products have been allotted to all your products. The next step would be to get these numbers generated into bar-codes for incorporation as a part of the product packaging design or the barcodes be printed as stickers to be pasted on the package.



Option 1: Modifying artwork to incorporate barcode: A one-time modification to the artwork will be required. The cost involved in this step will be low and organizations involved in generating your packaging (advertising agency or printer) are aware of how to incorporate barcode on product packaging. In case of any clarifications required they may contact the EAN India office.



Option 2: Barcodes printed as stickers to be pasted on products: You can get stickers made by a bar-code solution provider or you may procure a barcode printer from solution providers and generate stickers on your own. This decision will depend on the number of stickers you generate on an annual basis. An indicative list of bar-code solution providers is provided on www.eanindia.com website



Step 6. Barcode Verification:



The next step after generation of bar codes is verification of bar code by EAN India. Barcode verification of products helps a company to access the scannability and quality of barcode on its product packaging. In the verification exercise “Verifier” equipment is used which checks the following barcode size, barcode printing quality, barwidth gain, structure of barcode, correct margins, correct color combinations and various other features and gives a detailed report. The facility is available at Rs.150 per product and you will need to send your sample with packaging to EAN India office along with the amount as DD/Payorder. The modifications suggested in the Verification report (if any) will need to be carried out in your artwork. It is recommended that before going in for mass printing of product packaging, get the barcodes verified by EAN India.