For decades, the familiar UPC barcode has performed one essential task: identifying a product at checkout. It helped retailers connect a physical item with a price and inventory record, but it was never designed to carry the amount of information now expected from modern packaging.
Today, retailers want better traceability. Warehouses need more precise product data. Consumers want immediate access to ingredients, instructions, certifications, recycling guidance, and authenticity information. Brands also need faster ways to respond to recalls, expired products, counterfeiting, and changing regulatory requirements.
This is why product packaging is becoming more than a printed container. It is becoming a machine-readable interface between the physical product and the systems that sell, track, verify, and support it.
The transition is approaching an important milestone. Through the Sunrise 2027 initiative, the retail industry is working toward having point-of-sale systems capable of reading and processing standards-based two-dimensional barcodes by the end of 2027. These include QR Codes powered by GS1 and GS1 DataMatrix symbols.
For product brands, waiting until the deadline is close could create unnecessary redesign, testing, printing, and data-management problems.
What Machine-Readable Packaging Actually Means
Most packaging is already readable by humans. Customers can see the product name, weight, ingredients, instructions, warnings, and brand identity printed on the surface.
Machine-readable packaging makes some of that information available in a structured form that scanners, retail systems, warehouse software, smartphones, and online services can interpret.
A traditional one-dimensional barcode usually carries a Global Trade Item Number that identifies the product. A two-dimensional barcode can carry or connect to more detailed information, including batch numbers, serial numbers, expiration dates, product variations, traceability records, instructions, and digital content.
Two-dimensional symbols can hold more data than linear barcodes while occupying a comparatively small physical area.
This does not mean every piece of information must be stored directly inside the printed code. With GS1 Digital Link, a standards-based QR Code can connect the product identifier to online information controlled by the brand. The destination and available content can be updated without redesigning the physical package.
The result is a connection between a permanent product identity and information that may change over time.
Sunrise 2027 Is a Readiness Milestone
Sunrise 2027 is sometimes described as the moment when UPC barcodes will disappear. That description is misleading.
The main objective is for retail point-of-sale systems to become capable of scanning and processing qualifying two-dimensional barcodes by the end of 2027. During the transition, shoppers may see both a conventional UPC and a 2D barcode on the same package. GS1 guidance also states that linear barcodes will remain available for use unless a particular legal or regulatory requirement says otherwise.
Therefore, brands should not simply remove existing UPC symbols and replace them with ordinary promotional QR Codes.
A retail-ready 2D implementation requires the correct product identifier, an appropriate barcode type, standards-based data syntax, readable printing, compatible software, and coordination with retail partners. A QR Code that only opens a homepage may support marketing, but it does not automatically provide the functionality required at checkout or throughout the supply chain.
The transition should be treated as a data and systems project, not merely an artwork update.
One Code Can Serve Several Purposes
Packaging often carries several separate codes. One may be used at checkout, another may open a campaign page, and a third may support manufacturing or traceability.
Standards-based 2D barcodes create the possibility of using one multipurpose data carrier. The same code could identify the item for a retailer, connect a consumer to brand-authorized information, and support operational use cases such as expiration management or recall handling.
For consumers, the scan could provide:
- Ingredients and allergen information
- Usage or preparation instructions
- Product-care guidance
- Certifications and sourcing details
- Recycling or disposal information
- Warranty registration
- Authenticity checks
- Promotions and loyalty experiences
For businesses, the encoded information may support inventory accuracy, batch-level traceability, expiration controls, targeted recalls, counterfeit detection, and improved product-data sharing.
GS1 US notes that 2D barcodes can help retailers identify products that have expired, been recalled, or may be counterfeit.
Packaging Design Must Accommodate the Technology
Adding a machine-readable code is not as simple as filling an empty corner of a design.
Barcode performance depends on size, contrast, print quality, surrounding clear space, surface shape, substrate, coating, and placement. Codes positioned across folds, seams, cut lines, reflective foil, or heavily curved surfaces may become difficult for scanners and smartphones to read.
This is especially important for compact folding cartons. When developing custom soap boxes, for example, the artwork should reserve a clean and accessible code area before branding, ingredients, instructions, and regulatory information consume the available panels. Embossing, metallic finishes, windows, folds, and textured stocks must also be considered during barcode placement.
The same planning is necessary for food and beverage formats. A custom milk carton may need to balance the barcode with nutrition information, ingredients, storage directions, date coding, branding, and mandatory labeling. Because cartons include folds, seams, and angled surfaces, code placement should be tested on the assembled package rather than evaluated only on a flat artwork file.
A code that looks sharp on a computer screen can still fail after printing, coating, folding, filling, shipping, or refrigeration.
Static and Variable Data Require Different Printing Plans
Brands must decide whether their codes will contain only static information or include variable attributes.
A static code may identify the same product across an entire print run. It can often be incorporated into preprinted packaging artwork.
Variable information changes by unit, batch, or production period. Examples include expiration dates, lot numbers, serial numbers, or manufacturing details. When this information is encoded in the barcode, the code may need to be generated and printed during production rather than printed months earlier with the package design.
GS1’s implementation guidance recommends that businesses assess their current equipment and determine whether upgrades are required, particularly when variable data must be printed in real time on a production line.
This affects packaging procurement. A brand may need to coordinate its package printer, contract manufacturer, software provider, production-line equipment, data source, and barcode-verification process.
Product Data Must Be Ready Before the Code
A machine-readable package is only as useful as the data behind it.
Brands should first establish a reliable product-information structure. Each sellable variation needs the correct identifier and a controlled record for attributes such as size, flavor, color, ingredients, dimensions, usage instructions, certifications, and market availability.
Businesses should also decide which information belongs directly in the barcode and which information should be accessible through a digital destination.
For content reached through GS1 Digital Link, brands need a long-term plan for web addresses, redirects, content ownership, access permissions, analytics, security, and maintenance. The code may remain on a package for years, so the connected information should not disappear when a campaign ends or a website is redesigned.
Machine-readable packaging should connect to an actively maintained product-information system, not a temporary landing page created only for launch.
Small Brands Should Begin With a Pilot
Smaller brands do not need to convert every package immediately. A controlled pilot can reveal technical and operational problems before a wider rollout.
A practical preparation process includes:
- Identifying products most likely to benefit from traceability, expiry management, detailed consumer information, or authentication.
- Confirming that every product and variation has the correct GS1 identifier.
- Choosing a suitable 2D barcode and defining its intended uses.
- Reviewing existing packaging space, finishes, materials, folds, and production methods.
- Coordinating data, design, printing, manufacturing, and retail teams.
- Producing physical samples rather than relying only on digital proofs.
- Testing the printed symbols with proper scanning and barcode-verification equipment.
- Confirming how connected product information will be maintained after launch.
GS1 recommends using standards-compliant barcode verifiers to evaluate printed symbol quality rather than depending only on whether a phone successfully scans the code once.
The Package Is Becoming Part of the Data Infrastructure
The move toward 2D barcodes is not simply a visual packaging trend. It represents a deeper change in how physical products interact with digital commerce.
Retail systems, warehouses, marketplaces, regulators, consumers, and brand owners increasingly depend on structured and trustworthy product information. Packaging is the physical point where all these systems meet.
By preparing before 2027, brands can avoid rushed artwork changes, incompatible codes, poor print quality, fragmented product records, and digital links that fail after publication.
The companies that benefit most will not be those that add the largest QR Code to a box. They will be the ones that create a reliable connection between product identity, packaging design, operational data, and useful digital information.
In that environment, machine-readable packaging will no longer be an optional marketing feature. It will be a core part of how products are identified, sold, traced, supported, and trusted.