What is on the packaging: from manual labels to two-dimensional barcodes

Packaging – be it consumer, collective or transportation packaging – plays a crucial role in every point of the product and information flow. Information is carried by text, pictogram or GS1-standard barcodes. Today one of the most influential trends is that food manufacturers, traders and retailers face new market, regulatory and consumption expectations every day, and these cannot always be harmonised.

New technologies have to be used and according to Katalin Kecskés, corporate relations manager with GS1 Magyarország Nonprofit Zrt. there are three innovation directions in the Hungarian grocery retail market at the moment: 1. using the standardised GS1 logistic label for the tracking of logistic and transportation units (pallet label), 2. using the GS1 DataBar label for the tracking and inventory keeping of fresh products, meats and meat products, 3. serving the increased information demand of online stores selling groceries. Thermal labels are becoming increasingly important in retail; these labels have to be really enduring. Pál Tóth sales manager of Bizerba, one of the biggest thermal label manufacturers in Europe, told our magazine that with industrial thermal labels – used with meat products, packaged cheese, frozen products – it is key to preserve information for weeks or months, sometimes in difficult conditions, e.g. some of them even have to be cookable. It is an important requirement for these labels to comply with food safety regulations too. Ms Kecskés told Trade magazin that the food industry is traditionally a sector where automatic and electronic data collection, and GS1 barcodes are utilised. The widespread use of smartphones and the abundance of digital information creates a new situation, but tracking must be ensured in the digital world too, and virtual information have to be connected to physical products. Automatic data carriers may take several forms, from linear barcodes to 2D barcodes to RFID tags. Detailed product information in online databases must be similar to those on the actual product packaging. Péter Kurucz, country manager of Brandbank Hungary Kft. informed us that the biggest challenge is the standard categorisation of different information types. He told that there is no general method for digitalising labelling formats – it depends on product type, size and packaging. Good quality product data (images and text) is of paramount importance in online selling.