For about 50 years, buying something in a store has usually ended with a familiar beep as a barcode passes over a scanner. Retailers are now preparing for a change: the lines on traditional barcodes may gradually give way to square, pixel-based 2D barcodes, a broader category that includes QR codes.
The key difference is how much information each code can carry. A traditional barcode normally contains a single product number. At the checkout, a computer uses that number to find basic details such as the product's name and price. A 2D code can hold or connect shoppers to much more information, including ingredients, possible allergens, and even recipe ideas for food. The same code is intended to work both at a checkout and on a mobile device.
The transition is being promoted by GS1, the organization that provides Global Trade Item Numbers, or GTINs, which power barcodes. Anne Godfrey, chief executive of GS1 UK, said almost half of British retailers had already updated their checkout systems to prepare for the new codes. The technology is still being developed, so this figure describes preparation rather than a completed replacement.
Tesco has begun testing QR codes on 13 of its own-brand fresh produce and meat products, including lemons, limes, and steaks. According to Peter Draper, Tesco's development and change director, shoppers still pay in the same way. The difference is that they can scan the code with a phone if they want more product information. Tesco also expects the codes to support better stock control and efforts to reduce food waste.
Other large consumer-goods companies and retailers around the world are also adopting 2D codes. GS1 is coordinating the broader industry transition. Its rollout target calls for retail checkout systems around the world to be able to process 2D barcodes by the end of 2027. That is a readiness target, however, not proof that every traditional barcode will disappear on a fixed date. Products may keep familiar codes during the transition.
The barcode itself began as an experiment. In the late 1940s, Norman Joseph Woodland drew Morse code dots and dashes in sand on a beach and extended them into vertical lines. His idea was later developed into the rectangular design that became common worldwide. On April 3, 1973, the Universal Product Code was selected as an industry standard.
The first product scanned at a checkout with that design was a packet of chewing gum sold at a supermarket in Ohio on June 26, 1974. The technology later crossed the Atlantic: a box of tea bags became the first item scanned this way in a British supermarket in October 1979. Those early codes did one essential job well: they identified an item quickly and helped the system find its price.
The new codes may also offer accessibility benefits. A person with a visual impairment could scan one and receive information through audio assistance. More broadly, shoppers have become increasingly comfortable using phones to scan codes for information, which may make the change less disruptive than it first appears.
Traditional barcodes are not vanishing overnight. The current trials show that checkout systems are being prepared for codes that can do more than produce a beep and retrieve a price. If the transition continues, the small symbol on a package could become both a checkout tool and a doorway to detailed product information.