What is GS1 Digital Link?

What is Sunrise 2027 and how does it relate to GS1 Digital Link?

The retail industry is undergoing its biggest change in 50 years, GS1 Digital Link is the open global standard making this new ecosystem possible, enabling a direct connection between physical products and digital platforms.

What is GS1 Digital Link? 

GS1 Digital Link is the new checkout barcode symbology standard. It defines the structure of data inside a 2D barcode (like a QR code or Data Matrix). It encodes existing GS1 identifiers including (GTINs, serial numbers, and, lot numbers, etc.) into a single, web-ready format that achieves two crucial goals:

• Traditional POS & B2B Scanning: The barcode can be read by a capable 2D imaging retail scanner and passed to the host system without an online connection, ensuring seamless operation for checkout, inventory, and logistics, just as it works today.

• Consumer Engagement (Online): When scanned by a smartphone, that same barcode instantly connects consumers to a world of rich up-to-date, brand-controlled online content and experiences.

How is a GS1 Digital Link QR code different from a standard QR code?

While all QR codes may look identical, their difference lies in the underlying data structure. A standard QR code typically contains a single URL that points to one specific website.

In contrast, a GS1 Digital Link QR code uses a standardized syntax that embeds the product’s unique identity—such as its GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)—directly into the web address. This allows the same barcode to serve multiple purposes, depending on who is scanning it and in what context.

Consumers scan a 2D data carrier on your product with their smartphones. Retailers scan the exact same code at the point of sale. In both cases, the web-enabled barcode directs the user to an intelligent product identity in the cloud. Based on who is scanning, the system directs them to the appropriate digital content or service, allowing one barcode to serve endless functions.

By using this web-friendly standard, GS1 Digital Link provides a “single source of truth” that connects the physical product to various digital dimensions. This not only cleans up packaging design but also ensures that all stakeholders, from the supply chain to the end consumer, are accessing accurate and synchronized product data.

What are the advantages of using GS1 Digital Link on product packaging?

Using the GS1 Digital Link standard means you’re not only providing a URL for people to scan, but you’re also providing GS1 identifiers – the same identifiers relied upon throughout industry today – and leveraging open global standards. This empowers brand owners to redirect from the GS1 Digital Link URI to any number of digital information sources, all from one barcode symbol, saving space and improving efficiency.

What's important is that digital content can be continually updated by a brand owner, without the need to change the QR Code with GS1 Digital Link URI on packaging. 

This eliminates the need to update packaging or artwork when digital destinations or data sources change. Meanwhile, retailers, supply chain partners, and third-party applications, like nutrition and health apps, can still make use of the barcode as an entry point to look up their own information in their IT systems, exactly as they do today.

What are the business benefits of using GS1 Digital Link?

Adopting GS1 Digital Link provides significant operational advantages across the entire value chain:

• Improved Supply Chain Efficiency: Gain clear visibility of each item to optimize inventory, reduce stockouts, and prevent overstocking through dynamic data like batch, lot, and sell-by dates.
• Accelerated Recall Management: Save time and reduce lost revenue by quickly finding recalled products in the supply chain with instant access to specific lot data.
• Reduced Waste: Logistics partners can prioritize perishable goods close to expiration, while retailers can offer smart discounts to ensure customers get fresh products, reducing spoilage.
• Improved Product Authentication: Boost consumer trust and protect your brand. Offer a way to check a product's origin and authenticity with a quick scan.
• Support for Sustainability Goals. This technology is essential for initiatives like the EU's Digital Product Passport, allowing brands to share important details about a product's materials, carbon footprint, and recycling instructions.

How is GS1 Digital Link applied to healthcare settings?

While GS1 Digital Link is a key component of the global migration to 2D barcodes in retail, its application in healthcare differs slightly. In healthcare, GS1 identifiers are usually encoded in a GS1 DataMatrix (or linear barcodes) directly on the product or pack for regulatory compliance.

However, these existing barcodes can be converted into a GS1 Digital Link URI within scanning software, usually a mobile phone app. This allows manufacturers, distributors, and hospitals to access digital information online about the product using a GS1 Conformant Resolver. By scanning the existing barcode with a mobile device app that creates the GS1 Digital Link URI, it reinforces the "One-Product One-Barcode" goal, providing patient safety information, improving traceability, and enabling business partner APIs, all while leveraging open global standards.

What are the first steps to implementing GS1 Digital Link?

Transitioning to this new standard is a manageable process that can be broken down into clear steps.

• Step 1:  Audit Your Current Systems: Evaluate the capabilities of your existing printers, scanners, and software to determine which components are ready for 2D barcodes and which may need upgrading. 
• Step 2:  Secure Your Product Identifiers (GTINs): Ensure all your products have a GS1-issued GTIN, which is the foundation for creating a Digital Link. 
• Step 3:  Define Your Data Strategy: Determine what information you want to share and with whom, such as traceability data for supply chain partners or allergen information for consumers 
• Step 4:  Choose a "Resolver" Service: Select a provider for the system that direct users to the correct online content based on their specific content. 
• Step 5:  Begin a Phased Rollout: Start with a single product line or region to test and refine your processes before a full-scale implementation.  

What technology is needed to implement GS1 Digital Link?

A successful transition to GS1 Digital Link requires an ecosystem of integrated hardware and software. Zebra provides the foundational technology to empower this shift:

• Industrial Printers:  Capable of producing high-quality, durable 2D barcodes that remain scannable throughout the supply chain.
• Advanced Scanners and Mobile Computers:  Enterprise-grade 2D imagers are required to read the codes quickly and accurately, from the warehouse to the register. 
• Intelligent Software:  Platforms and applications are needed to manage the data and provide actionable insights that drive business decisions.