Barcodes for small business: which type do you need?

Barcodes speed up stock counts, picking, packing and checkout. The right type depends on whether the code stays inside your business or goes on products sold by retailers.

For your own stock: Code 128

Code 128 encodes letters, numbers and symbols, so it suits SKUs (like SKU-AB-1029), bin locations, order numbers and invoice numbers. You choose the content freely and don't need to register anything. Most handheld and USB scanners read it.

For retail products: EAN-13 or UPC-A

EAN-13 (13 digits) is used on retail products in most of the world; UPC-A (12 digits) is common in the USA and Canada. These numbers must be unique worldwide, so retailers generally require numbers licensed from GS1, the organisation that manages them, in your country. Making up an EAN number might scan, but it can clash with another company's product and be rejected by retailers and marketplaces.

Check digits

The last digit of an EAN or UPC is a check digit calculated from the others, so scanners can detect misreads. DocNova's barcode generator calculates it for you and warns you if a number you typed has the wrong one.

Printing labels that scan

• Print in black on white; avoid red bars (many scanners use red light).
• Keep blank margins (quiet zones) on both sides of the bars.
• Don't squash or stretch the barcode; scale it evenly.
• Test-print one label and scan it before printing a whole batch.

For many products at once, paste a list of codes into the label sheet option and print or save it as PDF.

Choosing a scanner

Most inexpensive USB and Bluetooth barcode scanners act like a keyboard: they "type" the code into whatever field is selected, such as a spreadsheet cell or your point-of-sale software. Basic 1D laser or CCD scanners read Code 128 and EAN/UPC; if you also want to scan QR codes or read barcodes from phone screens, choose a 2D imager.

Using barcodes for stock control

1. Give every product or variant a unique SKU, for example OIL-3L-CTN.
2. Print a Code 128 label for each SKU and stick it on the shelf or bin.
3. When counting stock or picking orders, scan the label instead of typing the code. That is faster and avoids typos.
4. Keep a master list (a spreadsheet is fine) matching each SKU to its product name, price and supplier.

Label size

Labels around 50 × 25 mm suit most SKUs. If a barcode won't fit, shorten the code rather than shrinking the bars too much: very thin bars are hard for scanners to read.