Are Barcodes Going Extinct? What GS1 Sunrise 2027 Really Means for Retail

Every few years the good old barcode receives another death notice, and this year’s has been especially dramatic. Headlines warn of extinction, of a meteorite heading for retail, of brands quietly disappearing from shelves.

It makes for a gripping read… but it also gets the story a little wrong, and for anyone putting products in front of shoppers over the next couple of years, the details are worth getting right.

What is GS1 Sunrise 2027?

GS1 Sunrise 2027 is an industry initiative to make sure retail point-of-sale systems can read 2D barcodes by the end of 2027. That means QR codes carrying GS1 Digital Link and GS1 DataMatrix codes, scanned at the same checkouts that handle today's UPC and EAN barcodes.

Two details tend to get lost in the coverage. Sunrise 2027 is a voluntary, retailer-led milestone rather than a regulation, and phasing out the linear barcode isn't part of it. For the foreseeable future, most packs will carry both.

Why does it feel like the end of the barcode?

Mostly because what a barcode is being asked to do is changing so quickly. For fifty years, the UPC has done one job brilliantly: it tells the till which product is in your hand so it can charge the right price.

A 2D code can carry the same product number alongside batch, lot and expiry details, and, through GS1 Digital Link, a web address. The checkout reads the price. A shopper's phone, pointed at that very same code, might open allergen information, sourcing details, recycling guidance or an idea for tonight's dinner. With one small square serving the till, the stockroom and the customer, the talk of extinction is understandable. What retail is actually getting, though, is a second layer on top of a system that still works perfectly well.

The real work sits behind the code

Printing a QR code on a carton is a design task. Keeping what it points to accurate, current and consistent in every market it's sold in is a data task, and a far larger one.

Consider what happens when a product is reformulated, a supplier changes or a claim needs updating. A printed label has a natural checkpoint built in, because a change means new artwork, new proofs and a new print run. A linked label can be updated at any moment, which is a gift when something needs correcting fast and a worry when nobody is sure who approved the change. Over time, the information behind a code starts to behave like part of the label itself, and shoppers will expect it to be just as trustworthy.

What should retailers and brands be thinking about now?

The brands that handle this transition well are unlikely to be the ones that rushed to redesign every pack first. More likely, they'll be the ones that started treating product information as something to govern, with the same care they've always given to what's printed.

It starts with some unglamorous questions. Where does the content behind each code live, and who owns it? How will anyone know a link still works, and still says the right thing, two years after the pack reaches the shelf? If someone asks what a code showed on a particular date, could you prove it?

There's a physical side too. Fitting two codes onto a small pack, alongside the branding and the mandatory text, takes careful artwork planning, especially on packaging that hasn't changed in years.

A quieter, more useful story

The barcode is staying put for now. What's changing is how much a single square inch of packaging can be asked to do, and how much rests on the data sitting behind it. Research carried out with GS1 suggests shoppers don't especially want more information on their products; they want the right information when they need it. That's a sensible brief for the whole industry, and Sunrise 2027 is a good moment to start building toward it.

So with accurate, consistent and well-governed product information mattering more than ever, now's the ideal time to discover how Kallik's Veraciti platform helps businesses manage labeling and artwork across products, markets and languages, keeping information accurate, compliant and ready for what's next.

Learn how Kallik works