A HUGE change may be on the way for supermarket checkouts as a shopping feature is set to be axed from all products. Barcodes have been synonymous with shopping for more than 50 years but they may be having their last dance. GS1 , the international non-profit organisation that oversees the world's barcodes, has said the more than 50-year-old method of scanning is set to be replaced by QR codes.
Anne Godfrey, chief executive of GS1 UK, said almost half of British retailers have already updated their tills to accommodate the new codes. She described how the Covid pandemic accelerated the adoption of QR codes across retailers, which could hold more information for shoppers. The chief executive added that during this time, the public became used to using these newer codes in pubs and restaurants to access menus and other pieces of information.
She said: "Very soon we will say goodbye to the old-fashioned barcode and every product will just have one QR code that holds all the information you need." Traditional barcodes are limited to holding just seven pieces of basic information - a product's name, manufacturer, type, size, weight, colour, and its price. When these barcodes are scanned at tills, their number is matched to an enormous database of products to make sure that customers are charged correctly.
However, new QR codes contain far more information about products including their ingredients and allergens, for example. Consumers may even be able to access recipe suggestions .