Brands & Retailers Are Bullish on GS1 Digital Link 2D BarcodeBrands & Retailers Are Bullish on GS1 Digital Link 2D Barcode

Retailers continue to prepare themselves to implement Sunrise 2027, an industry-led initiative powered by GS1, a global not-for-profit setting the digital standard in cooperation with industry players. GS1's claim to fame came with the universal product code (UPC) barcode, which ensures globally unique barcodes for commercial products. The next major update is dawning closer as GS1's Sunrise 2027 initiative — and the planned deadline for retailers to switch from traditional UPCs to the new Digital Link 2D codes, which incorporate a standardized QR code format. Unsurprisingly, that's also when brand owners large and small will make the switch if they haven't already.

The future of business.

Sunrise 2027 is "a technology modernization at just the right time to open up a much bigger potential for retail technology in the future, and it's all coming from what consumers demand to know about products,” says Ned Mears, senior director of global standards at GS1 US.

Widespread implementation of the Digital Link 2D barcode will open applications beyond the capabilities of traditional UPCs. These include better fresh food management through data collection of expiry dates, recall notifications sent directly to consumers, and increased customer engagement.

Related:Why Use GS1 Digital Link 2D Codes – Today?

The 2D barcode will present a myriad of information to consumers and increase transparency. It will be even more advantageous to manufacturers and the healthcare industry, according to John Nachtrieb, Founder of Barcode Test LLC in his article Barcodes: A New Chapter.

“The overarching problem that Digital Link solves is the limited data capacity of the UPC," he says, adding: "Digital Link is a single barcode that can do it all. Currently, this has either not been done at all or is done with a combination of printed, non-machine-readable information appended to a product label, or additional barcodes on the product label,” says Nachtrieb.

Puma, PepsiCo, P&G are already using it.

Mears says GS1 US has been seeing awareness of the 2D barcode growing through increased interactions and questions about retail readiness. He says the conversation is coming up organically more frequently and with greater depth. Many major brands including Puma, PepsiCo, and Procter & Gamble are also moving forward independently. They are implementing Digital Link in small doses ahead of the 2027 goal set for retailers. Watch this video to see how PepsiCo is gaining data to meet supply chain needs and meet consumer requirements using the new codes:

The traditional UPC barcode will coexist with 2D codes during a transition period. GS1 is also reaching out to smaller brands and has shared a video showing how regional craft brewer, Ship Bottom Brewery, recently uncovered new sales data and found consumer engagement benefits in a pilot test of GS1 Digital Link and 2D barcodes.

“We find examples of in-market products that we had no interaction with," Mears says of brands that independently decided to move forward with the new codes. “The increase in retail readiness — to be able to digest those 2D barcodes and the work that we have done to enable technology — seems to be paying off at this point.”

GS1 has made strategic partnerships with companies including io.tt, a "connected experiences" SaaS platform and consulting partner, to ease the transition of accepting QR codes powered by GS1 at the point-of-sale, which will help boost consumer experience, loyalty, and engagement through first-party data collection.

GS1 has also provided retailers with technical resources to assist them in the transition, such as the GS1 barcode syntax engine, a test kit, and software libraries that can be directly implemented into their solutions for low-friction implementation. To help retailers understand the real-world benefits of the new standard, GS1 has also posted a YouTube showing how the Wegmans retail grocery chain is taking advantage of the "infinite possibilities of 2D barcodes.”

An industry-led initiative, not a mandate.

Mears emphasizes that Sunrise 2027 is truly an industry-led initiative and not a mandate. Though he thinks it unlikely that there will be any retailers who are not prepared for the transition by the goal date, the only “pressure” they might receive would be from brand partners who want to leverage the use cases 2D barcodes will open up.

“It's not a requirement, more of a reality, in the brand owner's eyes. and the expectation for sunrise 2027 really is on that retail point of sale being able to stand and interpret the QR code with Digital Link,” he says. “Industry has told us the date they need [2D barcode adoption] to take place to unlock a bunch of use cases that they see emerging, food safety being one. We are in the perfect position to facilitate that work and that is why we are driving it, because it is above the individual business level.”

Sunrise 2027 may be important but it's not mandatory like, for instance, US Food and Drug Administration's Food Safety Modernization Act Traceability Rule (FSMA Rule 204), which will have consequences if its 2026 compliance deadline isn't met. That said, GS1 does offer guidance, recommendations, and additional resources to facilitate compliance using its standards.