EAN-13 barcode
What is an EAN-13 barcode?
An EAN-13 barcode is the thirteen-digit article number a shop till and a warehouse scanner read from a product. The digits are a GS1 company prefix, an item reference and a check digit, so the number belongs to one product variant only: one size, one flavour, one colour. The number is issued by a GS1 member organisation; the printer merely places the symbol on the artwork.
Example
A jam producer sells twelve flavours in two jar sizes. That is twenty-four sellable items and twenty-four separate numbers: one flavour in two sizes cannot share a code, because the till would have no way to tell the two prices apart. The company takes a company prefix from its national GS1 organisation, assigns an item reference to each jar and lets the check digit follow. On the artwork the symbol sits at a magnification the printer can hold, with clear space either side and dark bars on a light background.
Why it matters for a business
The number is the key that ties one item together in three systems at once: the till in the shop, the stock program in the warehouse and the product page online. When all three use it, a delivery is booked in with a scanner and the stock figure on the site comes from the warehouse instead of being typed a second time.
Four things people regularly get wrong:
- The leading digits identify the GS1 organisation that issued the prefix, not the country where the goods were made.
- An internal article number and an EAN are different objects. The internal one can be anything you find convenient; the EAN is global and unique.
- Red bars on white defeat some scanners, and a symbol crossing a crease or a curved edge defeats all of them.
- Marketplaces and Google Merchant Center expect a number issued to your company by GS1, not one bought from a reseller.
What to ask
- Does the company hold its own prefix, and does its capacity cover the new lines planned for the next few years?
- Who keeps the register of numbers, and what stops a retired number from being reused?
- Has the symbol been checked for size and contrast on the real material rather than on screen?
- Does the number reach the stock program and the website, or is it kept in three places by hand?
Placing and checking the symbol on the artwork is part of our packaging and labels work.