Granular level of inventory tracking is one of the most important aspects of inventory management. Many items are of varying size, color, and with different expiry dates; all these attributes make it quite challenging to keep track of each item throughout its lifecycle. When did the particular product arrive at your warehouse? On which shelf is the item placed? Whether it is expired or new? All these nuances have an enhanced impact on overall operations, be it of any category, fashion, cosmetics, FMCG products, or pharmaceuticals. Even a single missed moment at any stage of the inventory lifecycle can lead to sales cost! Hence, it is important to track inventory movements very closely.
Implementing a barcode inventory management system is the key! Using this, you can even track the movement of items between warehouses. This could be valuable, especially when you need to track the movement of higher-value items like jewelry pieces.
Understanding All About Barcodes & Their Types in Inventory Management
Barcode tracking boosts the overall efficiency of inventory management. It reduces the burden of warehouse staff by providing 100% accuracy in tracking thousands of inventory items. Stocking, order fulfilment, and restocking of returned items are easily processed with faster and enhanced accuracy.
In barcoding, labels are generated and pasted on each SKU or every item. The identification of every item in the inventory relies on this single barcode, which the warehouse staff can simply scan to extract detailed information like the product name, size, color, etc.
Let’s understand how many types of barcodes are used in the e-commerce industry for better clarity.
1D Barcodes
1D Barcodes are linear barcodes and are extensively used in product packaging. In these barcodes, information is stored in a single dimension using parallel vertical lines with varying widths. Some popular examples of 1D barcodes are UPC and EAN; these are the most commonly used and recognized barcodes worldwide.
- UPC – Universal product code is a 12-digit code represented by strips of bars and spaces. They are most commonly used to streamline inventory tracking in the warehouse.
- EAN – European Article Number is a 13-digit code that looks similar to UPC and can store a large amount of data in a small area.
2D barcode
2D barcodes store information in two dimensions – horizontal and vertical. This allows them to store more data compared to 1D barcodes. Further, they are split into two categories.
QR codes
Today, QR codes are widely used in warehouse management and retail operations. They are flexible in size, have fast readability, and can be scanned via mobile devices.
Data Matrix Code
Data matrix code is used to label small items. They can work even in low resolution and with imperfect scanning positions.
Why Do You Need a Barcode Inventory Management System
The inventory size may vary from a few hundred to lakhs for different sellers. You never know where your inventory is placed in the warehouse and whether it is in good condition or not. There could be delays in order processing or even a possibility of processing wrong orders. That’s what calls for a system that can track each inventory in the warehouse so that warehouse staff and sellers have complete visibility and control over their inventory.
- Accurate QC – At the time of receiving products at the warehouse, every good category product is assigned a barcode, which can be tracked at any stage to retrieve 100% accurate information.
- Shelf Level Tracking – For detailed tracking, you can use barcodes at the shelf level and ensure accurate product placement of stocks that arrive at the warehouse.
- Error-free Picking – When an order is being picked, the warehouse worker can scan the barcode on the products using a handheld device. If there’s a mistake, like scanning the wrong product, the system will show an error. The picker won’t be able to process the wrong SKU; it has to be the right SKU.
- Cycle count – Instead of getting stuck in the manual process of auditing, you can simply scan the barcodes via a handheld device or a mobile app for quick completion of cycle count.
- Manage multi-warehouse tracking – Barcode inventory management facilitates inventory tracking across multiple warehouses. You can identify which product has been passed to which warehouse via which gatepass. This level of visibility ensures that you don’t miss track of your inventory, especially when every piece is a high-value product.
- Identify aging inventory – If your stock has expiry dates, keeping track of them manually may lead to errors. And if your warehouse staff is not updated on where the aging inventory is kept, they can mistakenly process those products further. However, scanning can help to identify and segregate aging inventory so that such mistakes can be avoided.
- Returns tracking – As every product has a barcode, you can easily process the returned product and complete the putaway exactly where it was earlier kept.
Streamlines Your Inventory Management At Each Stage With Different Traceability
The entire inventory journey during the process can be easily tracked via a single scan. From accurate storage to processing the right order & managing returns, everything happens smoothly with the help of barcoding. Also, depending on the type of inventory – cosmetic, electronics, FMCG product, you can implement a different type of traceability.
1. SKU level Traceability
When individual pieces of products don’t need a unique identity, they are barcoded with one SKU code. For instance, every 100 pieces of red T-shirts could be barcoded as SKU123; however, every 100 pieces of blue T-shirts could be barcoded as SKU221. But no two red T-shirts will have unique barcodes. The details of every piece are not tracked in the system.
2. Item-level traceability
When every piece of product is barcoded with unique SKU codes like SKU 123, SKU 124, SKU 125…. The history of each piece is maintained throughout its lifecycle, for instance, when the particular item was purchased from which vendor at what price, and more. Mostly electronic products or pharmaceutical products.
3. Unicommerce Barcode Inventory Tracking Systems
At Unicommerce, you can get a higher level of inventory tracking that makes your inventory management 100% accurate. This lets you have an organized warehouse with dedicated space to keep inventory based on variants like colors, expiry dates, size, etc. This makes pickers’ lives easy and also enables management of complex inventory like FMCG products, cosmetics, etc.
4. Single Point of Barcode Generation
You can print barcodes at the time of GRN from our system; therefore, you don’t need to set up a different system to generate barcodes. For instance, you receive 100 products, out of which you have completed the GRN of 50 products, you’ll receive an option of ‘Print dialog’ from where you can print barcodes.
5. Batch-level Tracking
FMCG or pharmaceutical products require deep-level tracking and management because of expiry dates. With our system, you can create batches based on expiry date and allocate a SKU for each batch. For instance, a tomato-flavoured chips packet with the same expiry dates could be tracked together in batches.
6. Scan identifier
Our system has a scan identifier that can identify universally recognized barcodes like EAN and UPC. These barcodes can be linked with the product SKU codes so that further processing can be done using barcodes that have already been printed on the product instead of generating new ones.
7. Handheld device & mobile app support
Our system facilitates scanning via a handheld device or with a mobile app, which you can carry all around the warehouse to pick items or perform cycle count with ease.
8. Channel-wise barcoding
Barcode requirements may vary depending on the sales channel; for instance, Myntra B2B requires the barcode to be printed on each item processed, and Ajio requires the barcode to be printed on each bundle as per their internal workflow. That’s why our system provides this flexibility to generate channel-wise barcodes that align with the channel’s specific requirements.
9. Customization
You can customize barcodes according to your specific operational requirements, for instance, label with expiry date printed for better visibility of the picker.
Step-by-Step Process to Implement Barcode for Inventory Management System
Sellers managing inventory at the SKU level must print labels for every SKU, while sellers managing at the item level are required to print labels for every item. When the seller receives products at the warehouse, labels are pasted on QC-passed items. However, in some cases, the vendor can generate labels via the vendor login panel and paste them on items.
Label printing at QC
Labels are printed and pasted at the time of QC, where SKUs are mapped with the barcodes at the backend so that warehouse staff can scan & extract product information at any stage -picking, cycle counting, quality checking at processing.
Printer Setup
A special type of printer is required to print labels with a barcode of the required type and size. The following printer models are used in our system –
- Zebra GC420T
- Zebra GT800
- Zebra GT820
- Zebra ZD230
- Zebra ZD420
- TSC TA210
- TSC TTP345
- GX 430T
The sticker size supported is Minimum: 2×1 inch or 50×25 mm, Maximum: 4×2 inch or 100×50 mm.
Download the utility file
You need to connect the printer to our system and download a utility file. Enter the details related to the printer settings; you will get a barcode label template. The text in the barcode template needs to be aligned properly. Apply the necessary customization and give the command to print.
Unicommerce facilitates the complete barcoding setup from mapping the SKU to downloading the utility setup, so you don’t need to juggle to implement the process. We also provide on-site support in case you face challenges in setting up the printer.
Related read –
- Why do E-commerce Businesses need Inventory Management Software?
- What are the benefits of having Inventory Management Software?
- Why is Inventory Management Important for your E-commerce Business
- FMCG Industry challenges in India
- How does Warehouse Management System Works?
- Logistics vs Supply Chain Management
- E-commerce Apparel Industry: Trends, Challenges, Opportunities & Solutions
- UniShip – Advanced Logistics Tracking Platform
- UniReco – Automated Reconciliation of Orders, Returns and Payments
- Key Challenges & Benefits of Marketplace Payment Reconciliation
- Benefits of Shipping Notifications