Barcode Best Practices

Barcodes are the cheapest productivity upgrade in retail. A ₹500 scanner pays for itself in a week. But there are right and wrong ways to roll them out.

Use the manufacturer barcode when possible

For branded goods (FMCG, electronics, branded apparel), the EAN-13 on the package is enough. Map it once in your system; never reprint.

Print your own for unbranded items

For loose grocery, jewellery, generic medicines and assembled kits, print a Code-128 label with the SKU encoded. Use thermal labels — they cost less than ₹0.10 each.

One barcode per SKU, not per unit

A 1kg bag of sugar and a 5kg bag of sugar are different SKUs and need different barcodes. Don't try to be clever with quantity-encoded barcodes.

At the warehouse

Use larger labels (50mm wide minimum), encode location codes for bin positions, and scan during putaway, picking and dispatch. Three scans per item is the gold standard.

How InventorySaaS helps

Bulk barcode generation, thermal label printing via any standard printer, and full goods-in / goods-out scanning workflows on mobile and desktop.