Types of Barcode in Apparel Business
Purpose:
Barcodes are widely used in the apparel business to track products throughout the supply chain, from production to point of sale. There are majorly three types of barcodes used in the apparel industry, each with its own purpose.
1. Unique Barcode: These barcodes contains a series of vertical lines of varying thickness and spacing that represent a product code number. When a product is scanned at the POS, the barcode is read by a scanner, and the product information is automatically recorded in the system.
2. EAN (European Article Number) Barcodes: It is a standardized barcode and marked on most commercialized products currently available at stores.They consist of 13 digits and are used to identify the manufacturer and product.
3. Manual Barcodes: Manual barcodes can be created using a barcode generator which contain a series of numbers and/or letters that represent the product's specific details, such as its size, color, style, etc.. It is a cost-effective and efficient way for retailers in the apparel industry to manage their inventory and improve their sales operations.
Benefits:
Barcodes help in efficient inventory management by providing accurate and real-time information about the stock levels of products.
Barcodes help speed up the checkout process, reducing waiting times for customers and increasing the efficiency of the business.
Barcodes contain product information such as product codes, prices, and descriptions. This helps businesses ensure that the right products are being sold at the right prices, reducing the risk of errors and customer dissatisfaction.
Barcodes can be used to track products as they move through the supply chain, from the manufacturer to the retailer. This helps businesses monitor the progress of shipments and ensure that products are delivered on time and in the right quantities.
Pre-requisites:
1. Retailers will need a barcode scanner that is compatible with the type of barcode they plan to use. This could be a handheld scanner or an integrated scanner built into the POS system.
2. Barcode labels should be durable and high-quality to ensure they can be easily scanned and do not smudge or fade over time.
3. Each product in the inventory should be assigned a unique product code that can be encoded in the barcode. This code should be easy to read and understand, and should not be duplicated for any other products in the inventory.
4. Retail staff should be trained on how to use the barcode scanner and the POS system to ensure they can efficiently and accurately scan the barcodes and process sales transactions.
Conclusions:
In conclusion, using different types of barcodes in the apparel business for POS systems helps retailers to manage inventory efficiently and accurately, provide faster and more accurate service to customers, process transactions more quickly, and make better business decisions based on data analysis.It can also help retailers to improve their operations, increase sales and making them an essential tool for any modern retail business.
FAQ's:
Q: How do I use barcodes in my apparel business?
Ans: To use barcodes in your apparel business, you will need a barcode scanner and a point of sale (POS) system that is compatible with the type of barcode you are using. You can generate barcodes for your products using a barcode generator tool and then print them on product labels or tags.
Q: Can the product's price be printed on the barcode?
Ans: A barcode can hold any type of text information you encode but with product labels the price is not usually encoded. The barcode will denote what product it is and your POS software or database will have pricing information associated to this.
Q: How does a barcode scanner work?
Ans: A barcode scanner picks up the alternating black and white elements of the barcode which follow a specific algorithm that is turned into a corresponding text string by the scanner. This information is then sent over to your computer by the scanner no different than a standard keyboard does. This string of text will populate where your cursor is on screen at that time.