Are Barcodes or QR Codes Better for Retailers?
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:47 am
Barcodes make modern retail possible. Think about the number of products you will buy by the end of the year.
Without an effective way to track and call these products, you would never leave the store. Even the products that are shipped to you are picked, packed, and shipped using barcodes.
Barcodes have been around — at least in theory — since the late 1940s. While the technology to make barcodes an everyday part of life didn't arrive until the mid-'70s, the idea of a scannable inventory tag has been a supermarket owner's dream since at least the 1960s.
Today, a miniature supercomputer with a touchscreen in my pocket can scan a barcode and search it online. I could scan a book at Mark's Book Shack and get the best price for the book that showed up on my phone, order the item, and have it delivered to my home, all while standing in the aisles of Mark's, all because of barcodes.
However, are barcodes still the best way to do things? Is there another reasons for using the jordan cell phone number list better option for small retailers? Let's take a look.
Difference between QR codes and barcodes
As soon as we have something good, we immediately need a better, cleaner, more powerful version.
Enter the QR code (quick response). The QR code was developed in the mid-90s by the Japanese company Denso Wave and is designed to do what a barcode cannot: store a bunch of extra information.
If you turn over an item you have lying around, you will immediately see the advantages and disadvantages of a traditional barcode. Barcodes are simple and linear . This means they are easy to create and read, but they can only store a small amount of information.
The varying thickness of the lines and spaces of a barcode determines what number that line encodes. With a tiny sticker to stick everything on, your typical barcode is often the only useful thing.
QR codes, on the other hand, have a width and height, allowing them to provide much more information and store it in a structured manner. Barcodes can only be read from left to right, while QR codes can contain information in relative positions (top, bottom, next to, etc.).
How QR codes work
QR codes contain data in the form of small black and white squares. These squares are laid out in a grid with several checkpoints scattered throughout, giving them more flexibility than a traditional barcode and meaning they can be scanned from a variety of angles.
Anatomy of a QR code from Wikimedia
Anatomy of a QR code. (Source: Wikimedia )
Instead of simply containing a string of numbers, QR codes can be formatted to hold text, among other options. That's why, around 2008, your magazines, billboards, and stores were suddenly filled with codes linking you to websites and videos.
The additional information provided by a QR code makes it ideal for applications such as drug labeling, where the extra data can indicate an expiration date, link to safety information, or even help ensure the authenticity of a pill .
Without an effective way to track and call these products, you would never leave the store. Even the products that are shipped to you are picked, packed, and shipped using barcodes.
Barcodes have been around — at least in theory — since the late 1940s. While the technology to make barcodes an everyday part of life didn't arrive until the mid-'70s, the idea of a scannable inventory tag has been a supermarket owner's dream since at least the 1960s.
Today, a miniature supercomputer with a touchscreen in my pocket can scan a barcode and search it online. I could scan a book at Mark's Book Shack and get the best price for the book that showed up on my phone, order the item, and have it delivered to my home, all while standing in the aisles of Mark's, all because of barcodes.
However, are barcodes still the best way to do things? Is there another reasons for using the jordan cell phone number list better option for small retailers? Let's take a look.
Difference between QR codes and barcodes
As soon as we have something good, we immediately need a better, cleaner, more powerful version.
Enter the QR code (quick response). The QR code was developed in the mid-90s by the Japanese company Denso Wave and is designed to do what a barcode cannot: store a bunch of extra information.
If you turn over an item you have lying around, you will immediately see the advantages and disadvantages of a traditional barcode. Barcodes are simple and linear . This means they are easy to create and read, but they can only store a small amount of information.
The varying thickness of the lines and spaces of a barcode determines what number that line encodes. With a tiny sticker to stick everything on, your typical barcode is often the only useful thing.
QR codes, on the other hand, have a width and height, allowing them to provide much more information and store it in a structured manner. Barcodes can only be read from left to right, while QR codes can contain information in relative positions (top, bottom, next to, etc.).
How QR codes work
QR codes contain data in the form of small black and white squares. These squares are laid out in a grid with several checkpoints scattered throughout, giving them more flexibility than a traditional barcode and meaning they can be scanned from a variety of angles.
Anatomy of a QR code from Wikimedia
Anatomy of a QR code. (Source: Wikimedia )
Instead of simply containing a string of numbers, QR codes can be formatted to hold text, among other options. That's why, around 2008, your magazines, billboards, and stores were suddenly filled with codes linking you to websites and videos.
The additional information provided by a QR code makes it ideal for applications such as drug labeling, where the extra data can indicate an expiration date, link to safety information, or even help ensure the authenticity of a pill .