Scan a tin of tomatoes and the screen shows "TOMATOES CHOPD 400G" and a price. Neither of those is written in the barcode. So where did they come from, and who decided them? The answer matters to brands that see their products described or priced wrongly, and to anyone wondering whether 2D codes will change how pricing works.
The barcode carries only an identifier
A traditional retail barcode encodes a GTIN, the number that identifies the product type. It contains no words and no money. Even a 2D code that also carries batch or expiry still carries no price or product name for the till to use.
The till therefore has one job when it receives a GTIN: find a matching record. GS1 describes retailers using the barcode "to look up their own information in their IT systems, exactly as they do today." The step-by-step mechanics are in what happens when a product is scanned at the checkout.
Two records the till relies on
Inside a retailer, the information shown at the point of sale (POS) usually comes from two related sets of data, both keyed by GTIN.
The item master
The item master (sometimes called the item file or product master) describes each product the retailer sells. A typical record holds:
- the retailer's own internal item code, linked to the GTIN;
- a short description for receipts and shelf-edge labels, and often a longer one for the website;
- size, pack quantity and category;
- supplier details and ordering information;
- flags for things like age restriction or tax class.
Most of the descriptive data starts life with the brand. The brand sends it through a new-item form, a supplier portal, a data pool or a direct integration, and the retailer loads it, often with some editing. That journey is covered in detail in how product information gets from a brand to a retailer.
The price file
The price file holds what the retailer will actually charge. This is the retailer's commercial decision. It may vary by store, region or channel, and it changes with promotions, multi-buy offers and clearance markdowns. The brand can recommend a price and agree trade terms, but the figure at the till is the retailer's.
In practice, store systems receive regular updates from head office so that the till, the shelf-edge labels and the website all show the same price. How often that happens, and how it is done, varies from retailer to retailer.
Where supplier data feeds fit
Brands are the authoritative source for what a product is: its name, size, ingredients and pack hierarchy. Retailers are the authority for how they sell it: price, range and promotions. Supplier data feeds carry the first kind of information from brand to retailer. They do not set the second.
This split explains a common frustration. If the description on a receipt is wrong, the fix often starts with the brand's own master data, because errors there are copied into every retailer's item master. If the price is wrong, only the retailer can change it.
Where GS1 fits — and where it doesn't
GS1 provides the numbering system that makes the GTIN globally unique. It also runs registries that retailers and marketplaces can query through Verified by GS1. That service answers questions such as:
- Is this number properly structured?
- Was it issued by GS1, and which company is it licensed to?
- Do the core details match what the supplier has told us?
The core attributes behind those checks are a short list: the GTIN, brand name, product description, a product image link, product classification, net content and the target market. That is enough to confirm identity and ownership. It is not a selling catalogue, and it holds no prices. What GS1 does and does not keep is explained in does GS1 store all my product data?
What about 2D codes and web addresses?
A QR code carrying a GS1 Digital Link contains a web address, which leads some people to assume the till will fetch product details or prices online. It doesn't. The scanner extracts the GTIN from the address and the till prices it from the same item file and price file as before. The web address is for consumers' phones.
So the move to 2D barcodes does not change where the product name and price come from. It may give retailers extra data, such as batch and expiry, to use alongside them — see how retailers can use GTIN, batch, serial and expiry.
A short worked example
Volta Cables, a fictional manufacturer, launches a new 2.5 mm² cable reel at Brightline Hardware, a fictional chain.
- Volta assigns a GTIN and sends Brightline its product data: description, dimensions, pack quantity and images.
- Brightline's data team checks the GTIN against GS1's registry, confirms it is licensed to Volta, and loads the data into its item master with a shortened receipt description.
- Brightline's buyer sets a selling price in the price file, with a lower price for its trade-counter stores.
- At the till, the scanner reads the GTIN, and the till finds Brightline's description and the right price for that store.
- A second retailer stocking the same reel shows a different description and a different price. Same GTIN, separate records.
What brands can do
- Treat master data as a product. Accurate names, sizes and pack data at source reduce errors across every retailer.
- Register core attributes with your GS1 office so that retailer checks succeed first time.
- Talk to retailers before printing a price on pack. Under GS1's GTIN rules, a price on pack is one of the changes that can call for a new GTIN. Where a printed price is a legal requirement — the MRP on Indian packs, for example — check with your local GS1 office how price changes are treated.
- Don't expect a 2D code to fix listing problems. If the product isn't in the retailer's item master, it won't scan through, whatever the barcode.