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In short, a barcode inventory system helps businesses spend less time finding things and more time selling them.

Since barcoding systems generate real-time inventory data, you no longer have to wait for weekly inventory reports to see how certain products are performing.

It’s an important step towards making smarter, faster decisions about your business. You can track dozens of items in the time it would take to manually type a few characters.īarcodes don’t just save time, though.

Instead of logging SKUs into a spreadsheet, you can simply scan the barcode which then updates your inventory records in a matter of seconds. In fact, a recent study from the University of Cambridge found that an average person will make at least one data entry mistake every 250 keystrokes.Ī barcoding system can help solve both of these problems. Keeping inventory levels by hand increases the risk of human error, which can result in costly miscalculations, oversights, and lost inventory.Manual inventory counts are tedious and take resources away from more profitable activities.Inventory control falls into this category for two reasons: Now that you have a grip on what barcodes are, the next question is: why does your business need them?Īs a business becomes more complex, there are certain tasks that need to be automated in order to keep up with demand. However, individual retailers may assign a unique SKU for detailed inventory tracking. Take a national coffee brand for example-every bag, regardless of the store that sells it, will have the same 12-digit UPC. Companies create their own SKU codes to provide information about a product’s price, size, color, or any other characteristics the retailer wants to include. SKU codes are 8-12 digit alphanumeric sequences. On the other hand, a SKU code is unique to the individual retailer who sells the product. The UPC identifies the manufacturer and the item-it remains the same, no matter which retailer is selling it. The UPC consists of two parts: a 12-digit number and a machine-readable barcode (like the ones we mentioned earlier).

These acronyms are often used interchangeably, but there are key differences.Ī universal product code (UPC) is issued by the Global Standards Organization. Many barcodes contain a UPC and a SKU code. What is the difference between SKU and UPC?