More barcodes are scanned each day than searches on Google. But they won’t be around for much longer, here’s what’s coming next.
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00:00Barcodes are scanned around the world more than 10 billion times a day.
00:05It's more than Google search.
00:07We are now launching next generation barcodes.
00:10One scan, infinite possibilities.
00:19Welcome to The Big Question,
00:21the series from Euronews where we address some of the biggest topics on the business agenda.
00:25I'm Hannah Brown and today I'm joined by Renaud Dubarbois,
00:28the President and CEO of GS1.
00:31So thank you so much for joining us today.
00:33For those in our audience who don't know, can you just explain what is GS1 and what do you do?
00:37GS1 is a global standards organisation.
00:40We are neutral and not for profit and we are best known for the barcode.
00:45The barcode has been named by the BBC as one of the 50 things that made the world economy.
00:51And today, barcodes are scanned around the world more than 10 billion times a day.
00:57It's more than Google search in one day.
01:00So just to give you the magnitude of what we're talking about.
01:04And thinking about that kind of impact for businesses, the introduction of the barcode,
01:08how did it really change the game for businesses?
01:10The benefit of the barcode was really around efficiency in the store,
01:15reducing the queues for consumers in the store so that they can go faster through checkout.
01:2150 years ago, the first barcode scan was in a supermarket in the United States, Troy, Ohio.
01:29And this was a pack of Wrigley Tringham.
01:32That was the first scan ever happened in the store.
01:35But since then, over the 50 years, this simple scan has helped to connect a physical product with its digital identity.
01:45And by doing that, you can have faster checkout, better consumer experience in the store,
01:52and a very efficient supply chain.
02:01The barcode has been around for over 50 years now, and it's changed the way customers shop and businesses operate.
02:08But it's not the plan to stick with it going forward. What's next?
02:12So we are now launching next-generation barcodes for commerce to basically power commerce in the digital era,
02:20giving consumers and companies more information they can trust to make smarter decisions.
02:28What we did is to marry the two technologies, the QR code and the barcode.
02:34And we've basically put the barcode inside the QR code.
02:38Now the consumers will have access to a wealth of information about the product, composition,
02:45allergens, how to use the product, if it's a food product, recipes, for example.
02:50Or if it's an apparel product, how to maybe recycle.
02:54Or if it's a beauty product, you can give instruction how to use the product.
02:59So basically, through the QR code, consumers can have access to the whole story about the product.
03:06Now the beauty of marrying the two is that companies can also use the same QR code
03:12to implement more transparent, more trustable and more sustainable supply chains.
03:19One scan, infinite possibilities.
03:21So it does sound like there's actually a lot of benefits for businesses of making this transition to QR codes.
03:26But do you have any data around the amounts of money that businesses can save or actually increase their revenue through this transition?
03:34One of the important use cases that we have for this technology is to ensure that you don't sell outdated products.
03:41One concrete example, Woolworths, who is one of the major grocery retailers in Australia,
03:47they've used this technology, next-generation barcodes,
03:51to implement a better way to manage poultry type of products,
03:56which are very sensitive from an expiry date standpoint.
03:59And by implementing this technology, together with dynamic markdown, they've saved 40% of waste by doing that.
04:08So there are real concrete savings that can be made by companies implementing this technology.
04:15And that's also a very important benefit for the safety of consumers.
04:20Within the industry, we've defined an ambition that by the end of 2027,
04:26all retailers in the world will be able to read those next-generation barcodes.
04:31Wow, okay. That's quite soon. Do you think this is doable?
04:35Yes, we think it's doable. Now, it's an ambition. We'll see how fast it goes.
04:40Obviously, it represents some investments on the part of retailers to adapt their point-of-sale system, their scanning systems.
04:49But it's already well underway.
04:51And what's important to mention is that the technology is accessible not only to large companies, but also to small companies.
05:00Let me give you an example.
05:02The first small retailer in the world to adopt QR code powered by GS1 is a daily shop in Brazil with three shops.
05:13And in two months, with the support of GS1 and solution providers, they've implemented the technology.
05:20And the benefit for them was better inventory management.
05:24They've reduced waste by 50% and they can connect better to consumers.
05:31Because on every product, for example, a cheese that they sell, they have a QR code.
05:36And when the consumer scans the QR code, he's got access to all the characteristics of the product.
05:42And in addition to that, if he likes it, he can reorder online with the same QR code.
05:48And just thinking about the environmental impact of this, if we're scanning QR codes and that's linking us to information that is all going to be stored on the cloud.
05:56And I think we are kind of globally starting to wake up to the impact of the cloud.
06:00It's a very useful resource, but if we don't use it well, actually, it has quite a big environmental impact.
06:05Do you think that by all of these companies, if everyone adopts it and then has to have this data stored in the cloud that's connected to the QR codes, will that have a big negative environmental impact, do you think?
06:17Obviously, there is an impact because that's technology.
06:20And when you scan, you access the cloud as you describe it.
06:23So, yes, there is an impact.
06:25But what we believe is that by having more information, the consumers will be able to make smarter decisions.
06:32And so by empowering consumers, they will be able to make the right decisions.
06:38And this will influence products and the products will become more sustainable progressively.
06:45The other benefit that we see is this QR codes powered by GS1 can help implementing new sustainable processes.
06:55For example, recycling.
06:58Okay.
06:59So let me give you an example.
07:00In Brazil, Coca-Cola has introduced bottles that can be refilled.
07:05Okay.
07:06And they can be refilled five times.
07:08After that, you have to recycle them.
07:10So you have to count to make sure that it stays safe for the consumers.
07:14Yes.
07:15So what they did, they implemented the QR code with a serial number which identified the specific bottle.
07:22So that each time there is a refilling, you count.
07:26And when you arrive at five refilling, then you know that you have to recycle the bottle.
07:32Yes.
07:33So yes, there is a cost, but there are many, many benefits for consumers to help them to make better decisions and to implement more sustainable processes.
07:43Okay.
07:44Brilliant.
07:45Well, thank you so much for your time today, Renaud.
07:47It has been a pleasure to talk to you on The Big Question.
07:49Thanks very much.