You Need Barcodes, But Maybe Not UPC Codes

Every large retailer uses, “Do you have barcodes?" as a question to weed out vendors. If you don’t have them, they won’t put you into their system. But barcodes are not UPC codes. And UPC codes are something you might not even need.

A barcode is a machine-readable number. These include UPC and ISBN codes, but could be any number converted into those thin and thick lines we’ve all seen. SKUs, for example.  Retailers use these (UPC or ISBN) to match your products with the myriad of data points about your products in their product catalogs.

From our perspective, all we need is a barcode, a machine-readable number on the side of the product. From there our system will flawlessly enter, store, pick, pack and ship whatever it is you sell. And any 3PL provider should be able to say the same.