In 2018, barcodes gained ground. Almost 2,500 entrepreneurs bought GS1 barcodes, double the number of companies in 2017. The increase can be attributed to the growth of sales platforms such as Amazon, Alibaba and bol.com.
To sell products outside their own webshop, companies need barcodes. Amazon, bol.com and Wehkamp require online sellers to use GS1 codes. For this reason, GS1 Netherlands started offering smaller barcode packages in 2017. "It is therefore a logical consequence that also in the past year, the decrease in the number of small barcode packages has increased enormously especially among SMEs," GS1 Netherlands said in a statement.
Pieter Maarleveld, director GS1 Netherlands calls officially registered barcodes a "must" for every retailer. "Only in this way are we together able to deliver products properly, and there is no confusion about which product it is and who is selling it. It is your own unique passport to the market."
