This is a question that many people wander about but do not ask for the fear of asking the obvious, this is not the case and we welcome any questions you may have with regards to bar codes and will gladly answer this one for you in this short article.

Firstly we would like to mention that bar codes do not have to be black and white to be able to be picked up by a scanner, there are other colour combinations which work well together, such as blue and green, but as we are all aware the majority of bar codes are black and white and retailers do prefer it this way as well.

When we make a purchase and we are packing our goods onto the counter for the teller to scan it does not even cross our mind that in order for this process to be performed bar codes and barcode scanners are required. Each item is passed by a bar code scanner and the bar code scanner reads the unique code on the product, it does this by scanning an LED or laser light onto the bar code image and this causes the light to reflect back into the scanner, the scanner runs the light across the bars and in this way is able to read the distance between each black line and convert this into numbers and feed it back to the computer or system to advise the it of the number sequence that the barcode represents. That is the reason why having the width of your barcode lines correct is so important and also why they have different widths as each width represents a different number for scanning technology. This will explain to you why the bar codes are best printed  in black and white as the two colours have such a high contrast between them that the light is reflected very easily off the white back ground allowing the scanner to quickly and efficiently read the black zebra lines of the code.

As you can imagine the last thing a retailer would want is having bar codes printed in colour contrasts that do not work and are not picked up by their in store scanners, this would result in the tellers having to manually key in barcode numbers and would essentially slow down the whole check out process.

You may be wondering why they do not or can-not create bar code scanners that are able to read any colour bars? As barcode scanners and smart phones are on the continuous climb with new features we can only imagine what will be able to be scanned in the future but in today’s world with the scanners we have available to us the colour contrast needs to remain high. Have a look and research the colours that you are able to use as there are quite a few, definitely too many to mention here, and remember to always confirm with your retailer beforehand if you may go ahead with colour barcode printing and if so, happy barcoding to you!

​We are so glad you and your business have joined us on the barcoding journey of the future and hope this article assists some.
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​Its fun writing articles filled with information regarding barcodes as we are then able to provide you, our customers, with very interesting ways in which barcodes are utilised in today’s world, ways in which you never would of imagined barcodes would work, such as the one I am about to discuss, recycling.
 
Even though the majority of things work today through a smart phone and app, you wouldn’t think that recycling would head that way as well, but it has. For the past year there has been an app available in France called Eugene, which acts as a barcode scanner, that allows people to scan their barcode on their recyclable items and Eugene will advise them on if and how the product can be recycled, for example if it should be placed in the trash or recycle bin and then in which recycle bin, paper, glass etc. In order to provide people with an incentive as well to boost the amount of recycling people do the app rewards users with discount vouchers if certain amounts are recycled monthly. This to me is so amazing. The app is now available in UK and North America as well.
 
Do not be disheartened that we do not have the app available to us in South Africa yets as we are heading in the same direction. A major retailer in South Africa has recently launched what is called a recycling vending machine. Instead of receiving from the machine you provide the machine with recyclable goods, even glass. If you perhaps are not certain if an item is recyclable, no worries the machine scans the items bar code and will reject it if not reusable. Once again you are able to use your smart phone to connect to the machine and be notified of your recycling contribution via sms. As the majority of people are very concerned on the slacking in recycling in South Africa, we are sure most will be excited with the new ways in which companies are creatively assisting in the process. It always used to be quite a difficult task if you wanted to recycle as you would have to seek out recycling depots, but now it is a whole lot easier and convenient.
 
Another great one is a recycling company based in New York that have provided thousands of families with recycle bins that have a unique barcode imprinted on them so that when the families are actively recycling they are rewarded, and the way in which the company can keep track of this is when the dirt cart comes to empty the bins the truck automatically scans the barcode to keep a record of how many goods were placed in the bin. Families can earn up to $35 dollars a month back in vouchers for recycling their items instead of chucking them away.
 
With incorporating barcodes, scanners and smart phones into recycling it has peaked people’s attention and the aim is to keep coming up with motivational ways to keep recycling as an important role in people’s everyday lives. Let us all get excited and join in recycling with barcodes and scanners and keep our planet clean.

If you're selling almost anywhere today, you're going to have to figure out the barcode equation. Virtually every major retailer, including many of today's biggest brands online, require barcodes, and you simply can't do business in South Africa or on a global level without one. As you do your research, you're certain to come across a few terms you don't know, and one of the biggest is the GS1. Take a closer look at this organization's mission.

What Is the GS1?
While many companies come to the GS1 initially to actually obtain the necessary barcodes for their products, what most don't realise is that the GS1 is far more than a simple barcode provider. Instead, they create standards that help to provide a framework for supply chain visibility across the grid. This non-profit's overall goal is to make certain that every business has a way to identify, capture, and share information, and they work with companies in almost every industry. The goal is to ensure that communication can happen across the supply chain. From ensuring a company can communicate with customers to making certain partners and suppliers have easier communications, the GS1 is working to create a common language in a number of sectors today. In the world of healthcare, they are working to create efficiency that helps to increase patient safety and improve medication related traceability. Within transportation and logistics, they help customers to get accurate information to help make better decisions. Retail, though, is the one place where GS1 standards really shine. In fact, that's where the non-profit actually originated.

A Quick Walk Through History
In 1974, barcodes became the most important aspect of the supply chain, helping retail establishments of all types get the products they needed most to stock their shelves. A single barcode started a revolution, and by 1977, the GS1 system was already in place. It was initially called the European Article Numbering Association, and the founding purpose was building out efficiency within supply chains. By 1983, barcodes weren't just appearing on individual products, but also on wholesale multi-packs. As the landscape of retail shifted and changed, though, it became clear that the GS1 focus couldn't stay just on barcodes. Instead, in 1989, they realized they needed to create international standards for electronic data interchange as well. In 1995, they created healthcare standards to add to their stable, and these days, they're celebrating nearly 42 years in the business. Today, things are still changing, but this spring, full support to Global Data Standards was received, so things might be changing quickly.

How the Barcodes Actually Work
If barcodes are so essential to the operations of the GS1, it might be useful to understand a bit more about how they work. When a barcode scanner reads your barcode, it turns those bars on it into a number based code, then searches for those items that are associated with that code. The information you've supplied to the retailer has already been entered into the POS system for the store, so once the items is scanned, the system tells the database the numbers required, then the customer pays for the item itself. It's really a fairly simple process, but one that has absolutely changed everything around the way people do business today.

Ready to Buy?
The GS1 is working to simplify logistics, but that still doesn't answer a question many businesses today have - why do I actually need a barcode. The simple truth is that most retailers won't accept your products without them. They do actually make life quite a bit easier, though. It allows companies to keep a better inventory of your product or products in stock. That alone can translate to time and money savings that you can't afford to miss out on.

Using Barcodes South Africa
wondering where come in? It's easy. We're South Africa's most trusted outlet for barcodes. Within just an hour of purchase, you'll get UPC and EAN barcodes in three different fomats, and that means you can go to market much faster than you thought possible. As the nation's top reseller of barcodes, we're proud of the services we can provide your company. Whether you market beauty products or gardening implements, we're here to provide you with support when you need it the most.

All of our barcodes are valid for use throughout South Africa, but their reach is much further than that. We have the barcodes you need to market your product line throughout the world.
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Barcodes are nothing short of a must if you're going to create real business success today. Contact us to learn more about barcodes and how we can help now.

Looking for better product packaging? You're not alone. Whether you're adding a single product to your line or a number of them, one of the things that matters most is a product's packaging. More than anything else, you want it to serve as its own call to action because few things represent your brand more completely than the packaging itself. Searching for some inspiration? These tips can help.

Think About Function First
Before you ever begin to consider aesthetic design, the single most important thing you can do is think about the reason behind your packaging. You want to keep your products safe and intact until your customer can get them home safely. While you this certainly doesn't mean you're going to have to go with something like bubble wrap, it does potentially mean that you want a design that will truly protect more than anything else.

Start Immediately
Even if your product is still at the prototyping stage, you can't start soon enough in the world of package design. Draft some ideas to get a sense of what you want it to look like on retailer shelves. Closely examine what other products within the same vertical look like. You may even want to do some target marketing research to decide how to start building those mockups of the packaging design. Getting outside advice on those early designs is absolutely key.

Be Creative
While you should certainly look at what others in your market are doing right now, that closer look shouldn't limit your ability to create something amazing. When customers see unique, interesting package designs, it can serve as strong signal to buy, even if your product has a higher price tag.

Go Green Here Too
The pressure for many businesses today is to go as green as possible, and packaging can play  a huge role in your efforts to be eco-friendly. People who are recycling tend to me more conscious of environmental issues, so if that hits one of your target markets, you may want to go with recycled cardboard, eco-friendly printer inks, and more. Keep in mind, also, exactly where your products might be distributed, as there are legislative requirements to consider in many cases.

Build an Attention Getter
What grabs a customer's attention within your market? For some sectors, it could be color. For others, it could be print. No matter what it is, though, you have to remember that customers tend to have very short attention spans, and you may need plenty of packaging help to get customers to pick your item over the others available. As important as it is to keep this tactic in mind, though, remember that you don't want to scare customers away from your product. It is possible to incorporate so many trends and colours that your product becomes completely irrelevant to your market. You may need a bit of trial and error to discover that perfect balance. If you're adjusting an older product design, wait at least two years to do so.

Think Requirements
Almost all packaging is required to fulfill several different requirements, and that has to be at the forefront of your mind when you make that decision. The package design phase is certainly the place to think about how you're going to incorporate your barcode. The last thing you want is to get too creative in this area. The GS1 has several standards that you need to follow, including where to place barcodes and how to orient them on the packaging. Do your homework before you finalize your package design so that once the product is in your hands, you can add our barcodes and make it to store shelves faster.
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Make Sure You've Clearly Labeled Your Product
As tempting as it can be to be so creative, customers don't know how to classify you, it's equally important to temper that with some clear labeling about the exact nature of your product. You don't want to disguise what you have to offer, and you want your brand name to be presented as clearly as possible. Don't take this as a licence to get too simple, though. Only be most recognisable brands can do that at this stage of the game.

You likely already know that if you're going to market your product line in any serious fashion, buying barcodes for every single one of your products is nothing short of an absolute must. Ever wonder, though, exactly why we use barcodes on products today? Take a look.

Barcodes were actually invented to help supermarkets in the United States. As these businesses outgrew their former tiny "general store" type environment and worked their way into large retail outlets, maintaining an inventory of the right size was quite difficult. The larger they became, the harder it was to count every can and bag in the place, and that made it tough to decide how much to order and when to do so.

The very first barcodes and scanning equipment came in the form of punch cards, which were developed for the 1890 U.S. Census. It would take several decades, but the technology was eventually adapted for use in supermarkets. In 1932, Wallace Flint, a professor at the Harvard School of Business Administration, led a small group of students to design a system by which customers would complete their list of proposed merchandise to purchase using one of those punch cards. The checker then rang up the entire order thanks to the punch card. It helped to update the inventory records. Unfortunately, the system was far from practical. The equipment was bulky and expensive, and given that the United States was at the very height of the Great Depression, it simply wasn't a realistic option. More than anything else, though, it served as a hint of the potential that remained untapped.

Modern barcodes remained elusive until 1948. Bernard Silver was a graduate student in Philadelphia at the Drexel Institute of Technology. One day, he overheard the president of a local supermarket chain asking one of the deans to develop a system that would read product information while customers were checking out in his stores. It spurred a flurry of research from Silver, who began working with a friend, Norman Joseph Woodland, to solve the problem. Their initial idea used patterns of ink that glowed only under ultraviolet light. Unfortunately, the solution had a few problems of its own. It was quite expensive to print the patterns. There was also a matter of ink instability that led to numerous issues with the system. A year later, however, the two managed to file a patent for their barcode symbol. It looked a bit like today's 1D barcodes. Made up of four white lines on a dark background, seven different classifications were possible, but even in the early days, the inventors made it clear that with more lines, more classifications would be possible.
Despite those advancements in the technology, barcodes wouldn't go into use heavily for nearly two decades. In 1966, the National Association of Food Chains began looking for equipment that would help speed up the checkout process. A year later, one of the very first scanning systems was installed in Ohio, a state in the middle of the United States. The store in which it was installed had employees sticker each item with one of the Woodland and Silver barcodes, then checkers could scan it as customers brought it to checkout. The advances here were clear, but so were the problems involved. After all, virtually everyone realized that a standard coding scheme would have to be in place for this to become truly useful technology. In the summer of 1970, the University Grocery Products Identification Code was developed and released. Just three years later, the adoption of the modern UPC symbol set still used throughout the U.S. went into effect. By 1974, UPC scanners were being used across the country, and in the late 70s, nearly 85% of all products had a UPC symbol on them.

Today, barcodes are far from restricted to retail applications. Instead, they're utilized across industry lines to help companies track various thinks. Militaries across the world use them to track equipment. Hospitals use them to keep track of patients, medications, and more. Even Federal Express, a global shipping giant, uses it to track packages and reroute logistics where necessary.
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Barcodes brought a brand new way of doing business to the world, and if you're part of that landscape, your business will need to consider purchasing the right barcodes to help you move forward. We're here for you. With high quality options that are GS1 registered to make certain you can market your products throughout South Africa and beyond, we offer more to your business for less, and there's never a renewal fee when you work with us. Contact us today to learn more about what our barcodes can do for your business. The technology has come a long way since punch cards, and so has your business. Take it one step further with our barcodes.

Barcodes - they're on almost every product imaginable these days, and whether you run a big shop or you're a smaller startup, if you're offering physical products, the need for barcodes is huge. When a distributor or store sells your product, they're nothing short of required because many retail chains in any country require every product to have a unique barcode. Wondering why stores don't mark the codes down on their own? It's typically easier for a company to mark the product rather than the store that sells it, and for you, that means one thing - a need for a good barcode distributor, and we can help.

Starting with the Basics
There are three basic ways to buy barcodes for your products. You can buy from a reseller, but you need to be very careful within this process. Many resellers prey on the lack of knowledge among new business owners, so understanding of the potential limitations of that process are a must.

Another option is to go directly to the GS1. This is a nonprofit that sets international commerce regulations, and the bonus here is that you'll get the barcodes you need quickly, typically within ten days. The drawback, though, can be fairly enormous, as the costs are extensive. The application fee runs thousands of rands, and you'll have to pay an annual fee on top of that. The total fee depends on your application, which often includes the number of barcodes you may need as well as a description of products.

Perhaps your best bet is to work with a site like Buy Barcodes South Africa. We offer GS1 certified barcodes individually and in bulk without the extensive GS1 direct costs. Everything you need can be delivered within an hour, and all of our barcodes are fully pre-approved and verified for use throughout South Africa.

The Number of Barcodes to Purchase
Once you've decided how you want to purchase your barcodes, it's time to decide exactly how many you need to buy, and that depends extensively on your product line. You'll need to purchase a unique barcode for every product you sell. Keep in mind that if you sell different colours of a certain product or even different sizes, you'll need to purchase multiple barcodes. That allows your suppliers to learn immediately which of your products need to be restocked without manually counting each.

Marketing to Other Countries
Have your sights set on global sales? We can help there too. We offer both UPC and EAN barcode formats. For you, that means you can market your products throughout South Africa, Europe, and the United states without a problem. In 99% of the world's stores today, our barcodes can be scanned!

Choosing the Right Supplier
There are many different places you can buy barcodes online today, but at Buy Barcodes South Africa, we offer a few advantages many others simply can't match. Take a look at a few:

• We're one of the only companies available that offers instant downloads of barcodes. In many other situations, you might have to wait hours or days to get your barcodes, but with us, once you click the "Pay Now" button, you get a fully featured barcode pack so you can start working on development of your product line sooner.
• Our barcode packs are some of the most robust offered today. Once you purchase a single barcode from us, you get a pack that contains your code in both UPC and EAN formats, as well as five different high resolution formats so you can choose the one that best meets your needs. Every barcode we sell comes in EPS, JPG, TIFF, BMP, and PNG formats. Additionally, you'll receive a purchase invoice and ownership certificate to prove that these barcodes are exclusively yours.
• With us, the more you buy, the more you save. We know you shouldn't have to spend a lot to get your product line off the ground, so we offer a convenient pricing structure that will help save your business more. Barcodes start as low as R99.00 each for a single product. The more products you have, though, the cheaper that gets. Have more than 100,000 unique products? you could pay as little as R1.99 for every one of your barcodes. That's a cost savings you can count on again and again.

If you're ready to move your business forward, contact us today or simply make the purchase you need. We'll be happy to answer any questions you have about our barcodes, and we're on call 24/7 to take your questions about our products. Your company is only going to continue growing its customer base, and that's going to mean a more robust product line soon. Start working with us today, and realize the benefits Buy Barcodes South Africa can make in your company