2D Barcodes Are Coming to the Checkout. Is Your Product Data Ready?

What Is a 2D Barcode — and Why Is It Replacing the One You Know?

A linear (1D) barcode encodes data in one direction only: the widths of its bars. That limits it to a single number, the GTIN. A 2D barcode encodes data in two directions, in a grid of squares, so the same footprint on the pack can carry far more. GS1 has standardised two 2D symbols for retail: the GS1 DataMatrix, already mandatory on EU prescription medicines, and the QR code carrying a GS1 Digital Link URI. Both are read by camera-based imager scanners rather than lasers. Alongside the GTIN, a GS1 2D barcode can encode:

• the GTIN (the same product identifier as today's EAN/UPC)
• batch or lot number
• expiry, best-before or production date
• serial number for item-level traceability
• variable weight, count or price for fresh and loose goods
• country of origin and packaging identifiers
• a web link to product, compliance or recall information (GS1 Digital Link)
• sustainability and Digital Product Passport data
• any other GS1 Application Identifier your business needs

The result? One code on the pack does what a barcode, a QR code, a lot number and a website address used to do separately. At the till it still returns the GTIN, so checkout works exactly as before. Everywhere else, from the warehouse to the consumer's phone, it unlocks data the old barcode never had.

For companies managing hundreds or thousands of products, this changes the question from "which code do we print?" to "is our product data complete, correct and structured enough to encode?" A 2D barcode is only as good as the data behind it.

How GS1 Set the Standard: Sunrise 2027

GS1 is the not-for-profit body that has governed product identification since the first barcode was scanned in 1974. Its General Specifications define GTINs, the Application Identifiers (AIs) that describe batch, expiry, weight and more, and which barcode symbols may be used where. After years of pilots with retailers, brands and scanner manufacturers, GS1 and its member community agreed on a global migration milestone and named it, in the tradition of Sunrise 2005 (the move to 13-digit GTINs), Sunrise 2027. Here is what it actually says:

• The ambition: by the end of 2027, retail point-of-sale systems should be capable of scanning and processing GS1 2D barcodes (QR codes with GS1 Digital Link and GS1 DataMatrix) alongside today's EAN/UPC codes.
• It is an industry commitment coordinated by GS1, not a law. But retailers can and do turn it into supplier requirements with their own deadlines.
• The transition is dual marking: keep the EAN/UPC and add a 2D code on the same pack. GS1 publishes placement guidelines so both scan cleanly at the till.
• 1D barcodes are not switched off in 2027. GS1 calls their eventual retirement the "sunset", and that date has not been fixed.
• Scope is retail point of sale (and healthcare). Logistics labels such as GS1-128 on cases and pallets are not part of Sunrise 2027, though many companies are extending 2D there too.

GS1 Digital Link: One QR Code for Checkout, Consumers and Compliance

GS1 Digital Link is the standard that lets a QR code work at the till and on a phone at the same time. Instead of a bare number, the code contains a web address structured with GS1 identifiers, for example https://id.yourbrand.com/01/09506000134352/10/ABC123/17/261231. The 01 is the AI for GTIN, 10 is the batch, 17 is the expiry date. A point-of-sale scanner extracts the GTIN and ignores the rest. A smartphone opens the link, and a GS1 resolver routes it to the right content for that product, market and context.

• At checkout: the POS reads the GTIN out of the URI and rings the product up exactly as before.
• For consumers: the same scan on a phone opens ingredients, allergens, usage and recycling information in the shopper's language.
• For compliance: one code can link to Digital Product Passport content, extended labelling and regulatory documents.
• For traceability: batch and expiry travel with the product, so recalls can be targeted to the affected lot instead of the whole range.
• For marketing: one square replaces the clutter of separate QR codes, URLs and campaign stickers on the pack.

The resolver is the clever part: you never hard-code a URL onto the pack. But it also means the content behind every link has to exist, be correct and stay current for the life of the product. That is a product data problem, not a printing problem.

What Changes for Brands and Manufacturers

Nobody is forcing you to reprint every pack in 2027. But the brands that move early get the upside: fewer recalls, richer consumer engagement, and readiness for regulations that increasingly demand batch-level data on the product. For most brand owners the work breaks down into five streams:

• Decide a 2D strategy per product line: GS1 DataMatrix for data-only use, or a GS1 Digital Link QR code when you want the consumer and web connection.
• Dual-mark packaging during the transition: keep the EAN/UPC, add the 2D code, and follow GS1 placement guidance so both scan at the till.
• Get lot, expiry and serial data flowing from production and ERP systems so it can be encoded at print time, not typed in by hand.
• Build and maintain the web content each Digital Link resolves to, per GTIN, per market and per language, and keep it in sync with the pack.
• Confirm readiness timelines with your key retail accounts. Several are already communicating their own supplier deadlines.

Four of those five streams are about data, not artwork. Which is why the companies that already run their product information through a GS1-based PIM find 2D adoption to be an incremental step rather than a project.

What Changes for Retailers

Retailers sit at the centre of Sunrise 2027, because the whole initiative hinges on the checkout being able to read the new code. Grocery is affected most, with perishables, frequent recalls and thousands of suppliers. The hardware upgrade is the visible part; the data work behind it is where the value is:

• Replace laser scanners with imagers at checkout, self-checkout, mobile POS and goods receiving.
• Update POS software to parse GS1 element strings and Digital Link URIs, not just a 13-digit number.
• Use expiry and batch at the till: block the sale of expired items, automate markdowns, and execute recalls by lot.
• Extend supplier onboarding and GDSN subscriptions to capture the attributes that 2D codes now make available.
• Align back office, warehouse, e-commerce and shelf-edge labelling on the same GS1 data model so the product looks the same everywhere.

For a retailer, the biggest risk is not that a 2D code fails to scan. It is that the data it reveals from a supplier contradicts what is already in the retailer's own systems. Clean supplier onboarding into a single golden record is the prerequisite.

Why Your Product Data Is the Real Bottleneck

Generating a GS1 DataMatrix or Digital Link QR code takes seconds with free GS1 tools. The difficulty is that every field you encode or link to must exist, be correct, be formatted to GS1 rules and stay in sync across ERP, packaging, data pools and retailer portals. In the companies we work with, the typical gaps look like this:

• GTINs and packaging hierarchies held in spreadsheets with no clear owner
• Ingredient, allergen and nutrition data that differs between the ERP, the label artwork and the retailer portal
• No structured home for lot and expiry logic, market-specific claims or regulatory documents
• Translations managed by email, so the German, French, Italian and English versions quietly drift apart

Why this matters specifically for 2D barcodes:

• A Digital Link that resolves to wrong or outdated content is worse than no link at all
• Retailers will validate the data behind the code, just as they validate GDSN submissions today
• Regulators and consumers scan the same code you print, so every field is public
• Fixing data pack by pack after printing is the most expensive possible way to do it

Get the data right once, in one place, and the code becomes a formality.

How xyxle Helps You Implement 2D Barcodes

xyxle is a PIM and data-exchange platform built on the GS1 GDSN data model, used by Swiss and European brands and retailers to manage more than 80,000 GTINs. That makes it the natural system of record for everything a 2D barcode encodes or links to:

• GS1-native data model: GTINs, packaging hierarchies, GPC classification and GDSN attributes out of the box, so your data is already in the structure 2D codes expect.
• One golden record per GTIN: ingredients, allergens, nutrition, claims, dimensions and assets managed once, validated before release, with field-level audit history.
• Article passports as Digital Link targets: xyxle publishes an always-current product page per GTIN that your QR codes can resolve to, updated automatically when the master data changes, in German, French, Italian and English.
• Custom export channels to your label and artwork workflow: push exactly the fields a print or serialisation system needs (Excel, CSV, XML or API) so what is encoded matches the approved record.
• GDSN and retailer syndication from the same source, so the pack, the data pool and the retailer's shelf-edge label all say the same thing.

You do not need a separate "2D project". If the product data is right in xyxle, the 2D code is a matter of choosing the symbol and printing it.

And because xyxle already speaks GDSN, GPC and the retailer formats you use today, nothing about your existing syndication changes. 2D readiness is an extension of the same golden record, not a parallel system.

A Practical Roadmap to Sunrise 2027

Sixteen months sounds like a long time until you count the packaging print runs, artwork approvals and retailer test cycles between now and December 2027. Here is the sequence we recommend, and where xyxle fits at each step:

• Audit: decide which attributes you will encode or link, which product lines go first, and where that data lives today.
• Consolidate: load GTINs, hierarchies and content into xyxle, resolve conflicts, and assign owners for every field.
• Publish: switch on article passports for the pilot GTINs so each Digital Link has a live, multilingual target.
• Pilot: dual-mark a small range, test with your retailers' scanners, and verify that checkout and the consumer link both work.
• Scale: roll out across ranges and markets, syndicate through GDSN, and keep dual marking until your retailers confirm 2D readiness.

Whether you are a brand preparing your first dual-marked range or a retailer onboarding hundreds of suppliers, the first three steps are the same, and they are the ones xyxle takes off your plate.

Most customers complete steps one to three within a few weeks of onboarding, because the GS1 structure is already built into the platform.

Start Now, Not in 2027

The last barcode transition, Sunrise 2005, took the industry the better part of a decade to fully absorb. This one carries more data, touches more systems and arrives at the same time as the EU Digital Product Passport and tighter traceability rules. The companies that treat it as a data-quality initiative rather than a printing change will be the ones whose products scan, resolve and comply on day one.

xyxle gives you a GS1-native golden record, live multilingual product pages for your Digital Links, and the export channels to get the right data onto the pack, all from the same platform you use for GDSN and retailer syndication today.

Whether you manage 50 GTINs or 50,000, the path to 2D-ready packaging starts with data you can trust.