Having your own business is probably one of the greatest achievements that you have in your life. If you have your own business, you can have your income source without requiring you to work for someone else. Having your own business means that you can produce or market your products. There are various types of items that you can sell if you run your own business. There are several important things that you may need to notice so that you can market your products in a more effective and efficient way. One of the most important things that you should consider about your product is using the UPC code number or barcode for your product.
What is a barcode? Barcode or also known as UPC or Universal Product Code is the type of system that contains twelve digits number that used on products that are sold by distribution center or retailers. This kind of code considered as the unique number that is required for some product to be sold on the market. Several types of barcodes are known these days. Each type of barcode has its individual characteristic or design. Each type of barcode is also used for different purposes as well. However, the main purpose of barcode remains the same, to give a particular identity to the products can be identified when it has scanned with a barcode scanner.
Types of Barcodes That You Should Know
Before you decide to print the barcode on your products, it might be valuable for you to know what types of barcode that can use today and which type of barcode that you should use on your products. The 1D barcodes that commonly used today can be classified into several types. These types of barcodes are:
EAN-8 and EAN-13
The first number format of Barcode that often used these days is EAN-8 and EAN-13. Countries outside the US usually use These two barcode types. These types of barcodes are often found in consumer products from DVDs, groceries, even to clothing. EAN-8 and EAN-13 are the kinds of the barcode are usually scanned at POS or Point-of-Sale. The EAN-13 is the barcode format that consists of 13 digits number. This barcode considered as the default form of barcode used in countries outside the US. EAN-8, which is the barcode type that consists of 8 digits number and usually used on products with a smaller size of a package such as chewing gum.
UPC-E and UPC-A
The next type of barcode that is used these days is the UPC barcode. The UPC barcode is quite similar to the EAN barcode. If you take a look at the UPC barcode, you might not be able to tell the difference between the UPC barcode with the EAN barcode. Even though the appearance of UPC barcode is similar to the EAN barcode, these types are used differently. While the EAN barcode used in the European countries, the UPC barcode is mainly applied in the US instead. Therefore, you will not find the UPC barcode format in the countries outside the US.
Code128
Another common type of barcode that you can find these days is the Code128 barcode. This barcode type invented more recently. The number 128 in its name doesn’t refer to many digits on the barcode, but it relates to the 128 character set of ASCII that can be held by this barcode. These 128 characters are including all characters, digits, and punctuation marks. Since this barcode can contain large characters, also this barcode type can store more different information. Also considered as relatively compact as well that provides great size to data storage ratio. Code128 barcode usually used in logistic, especially for transportation, distribution, ordering and applied for the non-POS products.
Code39
The last types of barcodes that are commonly found in the market these days is called Code39. This barcode can use both digits and characters. Considered less compact than Code128. However, this barcode number is still used in the automotive industry.
ITF-14
ITF-14, contain 14 digits number which is the combination of POS codes and Code128. This type of barcode usually used in trading. However, ITF-14 often used on the products that don’t require POS interaction. ITF-14 Barcode can deal correctly with large printing which makes this type of barcode format as a perfect choice for being printed on the surface of corrugated cardboard.
