A UPC Barcode, or a Universal Product Code, is a code that’s used universally to track worldwide items in stores. As industry demands change, more brands are promoting the use of a UPC Barcode to track sales more efficiently. For both small and large businesses, implementing the use of UPC Barcodes is essential. Whether you’re an emerging food innovator or a seasoned vet, here’s how you can get a UPC Barcode for your product.
Get UPC Barcodes For Your Product
UPC Barcodes consist of 12 characters that help to identify your unique product. They were created to help grocery stores streamline the checkout process. Over time, their purpose has evolved into something entirely different.
Acquiring UPC Barcodes for your product is now a requirement set by most food retailers. This is becoming just as important as an FDA-approved nutrition fact label. Although many food manufacturers are intimidated by this prospect, the process has never been easier.
In most cases, the process of acquiring a UPC Barcode looks a little something like this:
- Brands must obtain a manufacturer’s identification number.
- Each product gets assigned a unique item number.
- Barcode label-making software is used to generate a UPC image.
- UPC Barcodes are printed onto your labels and products.
LabelCalc has partnered with Simply Barcodes to offer simple barcode services to food brands and companies. This way, food innovators don’t have to jump through yet another hoop to get their products on the shelves. To learn more about the UPC Barcode services we offer, visit us here.
The Purpose of These Barcodes
So why do brands have to print barcodes on their products, and what are their intended purposes? Although these barcodes have strayed from their original purpose of easy grocery check-out, their defining quality remains the same. A UPC Barcode is used to identify a unique item. From a UPC Barcode alone, you can identify a product’s name, type, size, weight, and color. For each product you create, you will receive a unique UPC Code to mark it.
Why Use a Barcode Generator For Your Food Product?
All in all, the importance of creating a UPC Barcode lies in its ability to organize necessary data. UPCs can help manage inventory in a warehouse or store, track sales, and predict future trends in sales. Also, they deliver higher levels of efficiency and speed. They also increase both consumer and brand satisfaction. UPCs eliminate the need to manually enter a product’s information, and you no longer have to hand-count inventory.
What Do These Barcodes Consist Of?
When generating a new barcode, brands will receive a 6-digit manufacturer identification number. This unique number will become the first 6 digits in all company products.
The following 5 digits of a UPC are known as an item number. These digits identify the product itself.
The final 12 digits in a UPC Barcode are known as the check digit. These calculations are used at the checkout scanner and are used to confirm the UPC is valid.
Discontinued items and their corresponding UPC numbers must be phased out. Using barcode-generating software, all products will possess a distinct UPC number. This ensures that the number is not used more than once and that the data collected is accurate.
All Barcode Software and UPC Made Simple
Above all, LabelCalc is an all-in-one nutritional analysis database that has guided over 30,000 brands to retail. By using SmartCalc technology, you can create a comprehensive nutrition label for your product in minutes.
Additionally, with the help of Simply Barcodes, you can easily obtain them for your product, too. If you’d like to discover how LabelCalc can support your next great product, don’t hesitate to book a free consultation today.
