Barcodes are a ubiquitous part of our day-to-day lives. While the nondescript black bars and spaces often go unnoticed, they are integral to retail sales and inventory tracking and other functions that deliver products worldwide. And now, they’re about to do even more.
At a 2025 Founders House panel, Abigail Bassett from Inc. Custom Studio checked in with Ned Mears, senior director of global standards at the barcode standards-setting not-for-profit organization GS1 US; Psyche Terry, co-founder and CEO of beauty product company Urban Hydration; and Andy Meadows, founder and managing director of SaaS link management company BL.INK, to learn about the barcode makeover, which should take place by 2027. Here are four takeaways from the session.
New code options
Traditional UPC barcodes are called 1D because they’re just parallel lines and numbers that reliably look up product pricing. But a big upgrade has begun: 2D barcodes, like QR codes, can lead consumers online to learn all about the product and the brand, without taking up much more space on packaging.
Mears says it’s a “no-brainer” to move commerce and supply chains in a web-enabled direction because that’s how the world works today, but it wouldn’t be possible with 1D: “The barcode would stretch all the way around the room,” he says.
More information
One benefit of the new 2D barcodes is that they allow brands to say more without overcrowding packaging with text. One of Terry’s buyers gave her the feedback, “Your product’s really pretty, but it’s very busy.” That’s because she wanted to tell many facets of her brand’s story so consumers would know what they were getting: a plant-based skincare product by the fastest-growing Black-owned skincare brand in the country, based in Dallas, founded by a mom of three.
Terry felt it was important that customers know her story. Consumers can easily scan 2D barcodes with their phones to access all the information they need, eliminating the need to search online for various details. These data-rich barcodes may include specifics about ingredients and sourcing, safety measures, research, testimonials, and anything else the manufacturer wants to convey.
Communicate directly with customers
When someone wants to learn more about a product, the consumer journey is broken, Meadows says. Most often, they’ll search for keywords, and the brand can get left behind. Even if the consumer searches directly for information about your brand, their first several results may be your competitors, because someone has paid to undermine you.
“The result goes to the highest bidder,” Meadows says. “The problem with that is that as a brand, I have to pay to get in front of the consumer the second time. I’ve already paid to acquire them as a customer, now I have to pay again to get back in front of them.”
But 2D barcodes remove the search altogether. Brands can keep consumers in their ecosystem by offering a direct link to the information they need.
Easy updates
Updating packaging can be an expensive hassle. With 2D barcodes, it’s as simple as updating the landing page to which the code directs users. This allows for more experimentation, and allows brands to convey new partnerships, implement sales and coupons at point-of-purchase, run contests, and simplify recalls, among other actions.
The ease of updating information can be powerful. Terry was put in charge of barcodes for a day, and now quips, “Don’t put your marketing person in charge of supply chain, not even for a day!” The issue? She mixed up a face wash barcode with the moisturizer one, and her customer, Target, couldn’t process it. That meant paying for the products to be unboxed, new labels printed and attached, repackaged, and shipped back to the store. 2D barcodes would have meant a simple online fix—and a less chagrined founder.
