Are you confused about GTINs and UPCs? Do you want to learn more about how these codes are used in eCom Google Ads campaigns? In this video, our Director of Operations, Leandra, sits down with Shane Morris of GS1 US to explain the importance of GTINs and how they fit into the larger system of standards provided by GS1 US.

Shane Morris is the Business Development Director in GS1 US and in this video, he starts by introducing GTINs and discussing their role in identifying products online. He then shares how to get a GTIN code for a new product and the benefits of using GTIN codes in Google Ads.

He also talks about the other marketing platforms where GTINs from GS1 US are needed, as well as where you can learn more about GTINs and the GS1 US system.

So if you're interested in learning more about GTINs and how they can help your eCom Google Ads campaigns, be sure to watch this video. Thanks for tuning in!

Learn more about GS1 US here: https://www.gs1us.org

Related video:

GTIN / UPC codes: The Most Important Thing to Do Before Running Google Ads Smart Shopping: https://youtu.be/Fjw4aje3Oss

0:00 Intro

0:34 Learn About GTINs for Google Ads With Shane Morris of GS1 US

7:41 How to get a GTIN code for a new product

12:12 Key benefit of the GTIN code in Google Ads

15:45 Two most common GTIN types

17:41 Work with the best Google Ads agency on the planet

20:47 Other marketing platforms where GTINs from GS1 US are needed

24:20 Where to learn more about GTINs and GS1 US

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know a lot of your e-commerce and you're selling e-commerce products on online with

Google Ads, and where Shane's , company comes in is by providing those g TNS and U

P C codes that we really recommend using.

If you're manufacturing, if you're importing, warehousing,

selling and shipping products.

You are definitely part of the global supply chain.

We do know that Google States that having G 10 associated to your

product will increase impressions up to 40% and conversions up to 20%.

Andrew here, you've met me before.

I'm director of operations here at Solutions Eight, and we have

a special guest with us today.

This is Shane Morris.

He's from GS one us.

Hello, Shane.

Hey, how are you guys doing?

. I'm doing great.

I'm sure our YouTube world is doing great as well.

Thank you so much for stopping by on our channel here.

, I met Shane a few weeks ago and we are fast friends because he has, as

you can see, a love for dogs, as do I.

So that immediately puts him in our good books.

so Shane, thanks for joining us.

Why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are and who GS one US is.

Sure.

Well, my name is, like she said, Shane Morris, and I'm a business

development director with GS one us.

And our role of our team is we work with all the e-commerce enablement community,

, , in the e-commerce vertical, industry.

So all of the companies that help the businesses and sellers.

Get online and optimize their business when online.

So, , then , there's quite a few of 'em.

So we work with all of those companies and help explain what, who GS one is, who GS

one US is, and how our standards can help, , , their business capabilities and their

business processes in a digital world.

Perfect.

And why this is relevant for you guys as our listeners is, , we know a lot

of your e-commerce and you're selling e-commerce products online with Google

Ads and where Shane's, , company comes in is by providing those g TNS and

U P C codes that we really recommend using for our e-commerce, , clients

when we're running shopping ads.

And now performance campaign.

Performance Max campaign.

Sorry.

, so GS one is a global organization and then the, you working for

the US branch, so there's only specific to the US or North America.

Yeah, let me, , I'll kind of explain.

So, , most e-commerce companies, they often come across our organization

when they go to list their products on Google, or if they're doing

their own seo or if they're listing on another platform like Amazon.

So most people don't know who GS one is or GS one us.

, , and the reason they, , , how they come across is they're often asked

by these platforms to assign their products a global trade item number.

We call it a G 10.

I've noticed you called it a G T I N.

And there's no right or wrong way to say it.

, and if these sellers or these businesses don't have that number,

they're often told by many of these platforms to get it from gs.

. So GS one US is the member organization for GS one Global.

, and GS one is a, believe it or not, is a supply chain standards organization.

So the GS one system of standards, it's actually the most used, , supply

chain standards in the world.

We have over 2 million member companies, , and our standards generate

over 6 billion transactions a day.

And I think what's important for.

Even like the smaller e-commerce, , companies, often we talk about

supply chain standards and they're like, oh, supply chain.

I'm not in the supply chain.

But listen, if you're an e-commerce business, if you're manufacturing, if

you're importing, warehousing, selling and shipping products, you are definitely

a part of the global supply chain.

, what's interesting is most people that do know about us commonly just

think of us as the issuer of the U P C barcode, but we do much more than that.

And.

So We've developed a system of supply chain standards over the past 50 years,

and this has helped power commerce from the legacy brick and mortar businesses

back in the day, all the way to helping e-commerce platforms and the millions

of sellers that are in the market.

And , how it's done is we give them this solution to uniquely

identify the products, which helps in accurately surfacing.

, , on the platforms that the consumers are sh shopping on.

So that could be the web, it could be within a marketplace, or it

could be in a retailer's, , and a retailer store's environment.

these standards are built on three pillars.

I mean, there's, there's a lot of 'em, so I just kind of

consolidate it down to three.

, so the first is we, is identify.

The second one is to capture, and the last of those is to share.

So we have a system to uniquely identify all things in the supply chain.

So for products, that unique identity would be the global trade

item number, but we identify a lot of other things, , as well.

So like locations, we have the global location number.

For logistic units, and again, I'm throwing these terms around,

but that would be a serialized shipping container code.

We basically can uniquely identify, , any what, who, where,

or when within the supply chain.

So once these things are identified, then you want to capture that information.

So we have standardized machine readable data carriers that

capture that unique identity.

And I laugh because it's like the most ubiquitous of those

that most people are familiar.

is the UPC barcode.

It's a data carrier.

That's what it is.

You know, when you scan it across the checkout, it's basically carrying

that global trade item number.

That's what it's looking up.

And then it's linking back into a, you know, a retailer system.

, we have other data carriers as well.

, like I, that global location number, R F I D tags, things like that.

So once that identity, there's that identity, and then other information is,

, that's associated with that information.

One, it's capture.

We then also have standardized mechanisms and language formats that can share that

information across the entire supply chain to all vested parties for visibility.

so I think it, , most importantly as all of these standards are interoperable

with one another, they work globally.

So if you're a business in the US doing business, offshore,

it's gonna work globally.

And they work, they're open standards and they work for any size business, big or.

, ready?

Yep.

One other thing is , , , I like to share, , that a lot of people don't

know that we, GS one us, we are actually a not-for-profit, neutral and

industry driven, , member organization.

And so, , for the most part, the retail industry.

So if you.

In, whether it's you're selling online or you're selling online and doing

omnichannel, you're selling into stores.

The retail industry has adopted GS one standards as their source of truth

for many of the business practices.

Because of that, not-for-profit and neutral status.

we serve industry and have been helping parties streamline their

business processes for the good of all.

people within that industry.

So it would be the retailers, the suppliers, the solution

providers, everybody who's kind of vested in that industry.

, I'm sure you've heard the metaphor arising.

Tide lifts all boats.

Mm-hmm.

. Well, that's exactly what we try for the industries in which we serve.

So that's who we are.

And I know it's a mouthful, . Great.

No, it's good to know because we, we work with clients big and

small all over the world, and lots of times they will come to us.

They have the already from their manufacturer.

If it's a product that they're, redistributing.

Or if they're clients that are of a unique product, sometimes they haven't

gone through the step of getting that, code associated with their products yet.

So how is that process?

So say I have a brand new product, never been out in the

world yet to go get that code.

What does that look like?

that is pretty simple.

So the first thing you would do today is you would go to our

website, which is , GS one us.org.

So remember the.org because we are not-for-profit.

, now I'm gonna give you the streamline approach.

When you come to our homepage, you're gonna actually see a

link that says Get started.

So just stick there, click that link, and then what's gonna happen

is once you click that link, you're gonna be presented with two options.

So I'm gonna explain what those are.

So traditionally a company licensing G 10 s from GS one us would acquire

what we call a company prefix.

And this prefix is assigned to your company and it allows a business

to create anywhere from 10 to a hundred thousand G 10 s, , depending

on which bundle you license.

This is a great option for well-established businesses that have

multiple products in their assortment.

Or their assortment turns over quickly, like apparel.

, it also gives you some additional abilities like creating case pack barcodes

and generating other GS one identifiers that a brand may need, like those gns or

those serialized shipping container codes.

, so if you're currently doing business with large retailers or you plan on doing so,

the prefix is a, great option to consider.

With that being said, we all know how the pandemic, , accelerated online

businesses and how many small brands started getting into the market.

Well, in fact, 80% of our membership , , is small business.

And so, , in order to meet the demands of this, , you know,

the growing demand of this new membership, we actually introduced

the GS one US single G 10 in 2020.

So just a couple of years ago.

And what this does is it gives small brands the options to

license just one G 10 for $30.

So it's a great option for a, a business who's just starting out online, or

also if you don't have a lot of SKUs, you know, if you have three SKUs and

you're not necessarily doing business with some of these larger retailers,

this is, this is a great option.

you will see like, so if you're still confused, like I don't know how many

I need, there is a tool, , that will say, how many barcodes do I need?

And it'll take you through some steps that'll help you determine the best,

the, , best one that you should license.

and with that being said, I will say that for the, uh, the companies that are

listening to you out there, , One member that all of our members receive, whether

you get the single G 10 or a prefix, is you get access to our data hub And what

this is, is a, it's a portal where members can create, manage, and store their

G 10 s right in essential repository.

So when you license a prefix or a single, uh, you can log into

DataHub, you can assign your available G 10 s to your products.

They'll, be there in the case of a prefix.

If you license, let's just say you licensed 10, but you

only needed five at the time.

you can assign those five to the products you created, but then the

other five can just stay in reserve.

So you have a place you can go back and see how many you have left.

, the other thing I like about this is you can assign core attributes to your

products in data hub, like description, brand name, skew, weight, so like

all these at kind of core attributes that you know you're gonna need.

Across the different platforms that you list on.

, so now you have a central repository, , where this information can be found.

It's found instead of a lot of, , floating around on a lot of different spreadsheets.

And there's one other benefit.

So if you are a company that actually does need to print a barcode either for.

Your retail business that you're shipping into, or for potentially a three pl

for pick and pack, you can create barcodes right in data hub as well.

, and the upside to doing this, like creating your gins in there is your,

you know, they're gonna be accurate.

It's a free tool.

It's very easy to use, and, uh, , it's a great benefit to being a member of QS one.

Great.

Awesome.

And then once they have that code and they, we upload it into Google

Merchant Center, that's where we, pull the data from for Google Ads.

What's the key benefit of having that code, , when it comes to Google Ads?

Well, in Google.

So it's a, common question people ask, , and not only for selling on Google, but

for listing on Amazon who requires it or listing on any other retailer's website.

And you know, , , I know as a seller it's like, what, what are they

actually doing with this number?

I think the best way to explain it, , is why, , like Google, for

example, is, asking for it, is to look at it from their point of view.

So, They've created this platform that's free for brands to list

products on, for global visibility.

And by doing so, if you think about it from Google's perspective,

they're ingesting millions if not billions of products.

And they need to be able to accurately classify and index these products.

So they show up, , when a product or a product category is being searched on.

So because HG 10 from GS one is globally unique, Google uses

this product identifier inform.

They then crowdsource search data as it's been captured over time within a product

or a product category, and also the habits of the people who have searched on it,

and they match all of this up to get the correct information in front of the

people who are likely to buy your product.

In a nutshell, I think what the G 10 does is it helps Google be

very specific about, to help the, what the people are searching on.

Now as far as Google ads go, like, you know, we know Google displays ads

across all of their network, right?

So it's like not only search, but shopping maps, , YouTube, and if your product

is optimized to their specifications and one of those specification is to

apply a GT to your product, it has a much better chance of being surfaced.

And.

We do know that Google states that having G 10 associated to your

product will increase impressions up to 40% and conversions up to 20%.

. So, if your, viewers or your listeners or if you, search on G 10

or U P C on, the internet, there's a lot of things come up, right?

A lot, of different ways to get a gtin but like I said, the retail industry has

basically, , nominated GS one as their trusted source, and there's, three reason.

Why they want you to source a G 10 from GS one.

So again, number one, every G 10 source from GS one is gonna

be globally unique and it will not be replicated in the market.

So that means the product you assign a G 10 and publish online here in the US With

that, Unique global identity could, will surface when, , even in if it's being

searched on in Europe or South America.

So it's global unique.

Number two is every G 10 N is associated with the company who licenses it

when it's done through GS one.

So that company to product association.

It proves authenticity of that product.

And number three, the company prefixes, , that we just talked about, and gins,

they're actually stored in our global registry and they're verifiable by the

retailers and marketplaces who use them.

And again, what this does is it helps with transparency and legitimacy

of the companies that are listing products online because, there's a

lot of funky things happening out there, , you know, in the online world.

so that's why they asked to, to source from g.

. Okay, great.

And it's a global trade number, but in the US it's 12 digits.

Is that right?

But then in Europe and other countries, it could be 13 or upwards to 14, 13 or 14.

So it's a global, Number, but I think there's different, it is lengths

of numbers, I guess, depending on where you're Yeah, there is.

Yeah, it is.

And there's a, I, I wouldn't say it's confusing, but what happens is a

lot of the different acronyms get in.

They're all interchangeable.

So we know, like if you're going to list on Google Marketplace, what they're

asking for is they ask for a G 10.

, so we've established that the G 10 is a global trade item number,

but there are different lengths and different kinds of G tens.

So that's kind of a.

Where, oh a G 10, but there's, they just throw it into the G 10 bucket.

So I'm gonna just talk about the two most common G 10 s.

so you have the G 10 12 commonly referred to as the U P C.

, it's also referred to as a barcode.

Oh, I need a barcode.

Well, what you mean is you need a G 10 12.

You know, that's, it is just all this interchangeable.

So a G 10 12 is what it says.

It's a 12 digit number.

And what makes a difference than the G 10 13 is it's sourced from North America.

So GS one US and GS one Canada, they're gonna issue a G 10 12.

, the U, you know, for the U P C.

now.

U P C or G 10 12.

, it's globally interoperable.

So if you're a US based business and you are selling into Europe

there, it's gonna be accepted.

, in Europe, the G 10 13 is just what it says it is.

It's a 13 digit number.

, it's also referred to as European article number.

and again, it's the predominant identifier outside of North America,

just like the U P C or G 10 12.

If you're a European business and you want to sell into the united.

, , most retailers, marketplaces, everybody's gonna accept the G 10 13.

. , I even think when you go, when I was looking on like, the developer marketplace

on Google, , for Google Marketplace, it's like, They give the, it says like,

you need a G 10, and the example they give is actually a G 10 So, , I think

another, , you kind of had, , I think you had brought this up, but, , so

th those are the most common G 10 s.

The other question we often get is, , , if I'm not creating, you know,

if I'm not creating my own products, then I'm reselling another brands

or another manufacturer's product.

Do I need to create new G 10 s or , should I use their G 10?

So, , I think the, if a business is reselling products that already exists

in the market, they should use the G 10 that is currently associated with the

product, , from the manufacturer, the supplier that they're getting it from.

good example of that.

My past life I've been in, with a men's national supplier and

we created our own products.

we sold the retailers, but we also had a web store.

So on our web store we would list.

, the products that we created, we assigned those a unique GTIN that

we licensed, but we also sourced products from other brands and host

feature those on our website as well.

But we wouldn't issue those, our gtin, we would use the

GS that came from that brand.

so, you know, that's the, yeah, that's the best practice if you,

and what's really cool about that is as long as the G T I N or G 10.

The same.

So if you're, if you're getting product from a wholesaler and you are advertising

and then a competitor or someone else is advertising the same product, as

long as everyone's sharing the same G T I N, all of the data that Google

collects on that one product helps to benefit all the, everyone that's

advertising for that one product.

So, it's.

, it's definitely important to use those GTIs, especially if you're

getting it from a manufacturer.

I think it's actually mandatory now to use GTS on, on Google ads.

You can't run products that don't have it.

, and if you do, they get disapproved really, really quickly.

So, , everyone who's advertising it, a product on there should be

using the GT N especially if it's shared by a manufacturer or other

advertisers might be benefiting and helping you, , with that product.

Perfect.

So we're just talking about Google, but I'm sure there's other,

platforms out there that need it.

Amazon would be a big one.

, what are some other ones that you, that you come across?

. Yeah.

So within the retail industry, , most of your large national

change, , they actually don't just suggest using GS one G 10 s.

They're required, so they require to source GS one, and again, it

helps authenticate the products that are being sold and listed.

And, , and it also facilitates the cataloging of these items within their

inventory management and product.

Catalog databases.

So, , large marketplaces like Amazon, they also require a GTIN

from GS one US or GS one when listing your products on their platform.

And Amazon will actually verify that the GTIN N is associated with the

product that matches the company.

So they're gonna look at, here's the product listing in the gtin.

Who's the company that's listening and, and then they bump that up against our

database to verify that they match.

, so they, they actually go through the verification process.

I think it's a good information, , for businesses who are looking to

scale and grow, , beyond direct to consumer, , , if that's all they're

This one, what I like we like to talk about is this one product identifier.

Really help a business scale across all platforms.

So if you start direct to consumer, you want to pivot and

then go to Amazon, it's accepted.

Any three PL in between will accept it.

And then again, most of the national retailers who all have an online presence,

all the drop shippers, they're either gonna require it, but they all accept it.

So , it's good business practice, you know, for Google.

, specif.

you know, they now offer that e-commerce web store integration,

, from any of the large PLA platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce.

And what that'll do is it'll link your store and list your products

automatically, in the Google marketplace.

So for , these platforms, and I know this again from my, past life, we had

a, couple of different Shopify stores.

They all have a field for gtin, and this is another great reason

to make sure you're populating that field in your web store.

In addition to just your internal sku, , because uploading your products

on marketplace will be easy, and because you filled out that G 10 information,

your products will automatically be optimized, on their marketplace.

So Awesome.

And, one other thing we forgot to mention was that there's different G 10

s needed for different variables too.

So it's not for each product, it's for each color, size, whatever

variable attributes that you have.

We need a separate gti, right?

Is that.

Correct.

Yeah.

So a gtn goes down to the variance.

So, , a good example, like when I explained on our website that

how many barcodes do I need?

There's a great illustration and that's that tool that will take you through that.

But for example, if I had a company called Shane's shirts and I had, , three

different sizes, small, medium, large, each one of those would need its own gtin.

And then if I had three color, , each one of those would need its own G tens.

So now I'm at nine.

, and then if I had three different models, so a Crewneck V-neck, three

quarter sleeve, yeah, each one of those would need a new G tens.

So now, now I'm at 27.

So yes, it needs to go down to the very, yeah, they add 'em quickly.

Okay, great.

, well thank you so much.

Do you have any, any final words or do you wanna tell us about where we can

learn a little bit more about all of this?

Sure.

, you know, the first place to get information on us, , is to visit our

website, like I said@gsoneus.org.

And, , so when I was talking about getting to G 10, I like to say stay

on the linear path because we are a supply chain standards organization.

And when you go up and start searching around, You're gonna see all the

different things that we do, and we do a lot of different things.

So, but there is some interesting, , information out there.

So we're very, we're heavily vested and there's a big global push.

For example, the initiatives on supply chain sustainability.

, so you know, there's information about that.

. One that I think, , people might find interesting is there's a initiative

in the US called Sunrise 2027.

, so by the year 2027, that U P C barcode that's been around for 50 years,

that , we always say that we all love.

I know at GS one we love it.

I don't know if everybody loves it, they just take it for granted.

But it's made life so easy.

It's actually gonna go through a transition to.

retailers, , by 2027 are upgrading their point of sale to where they

can start scanning a 2D barcode.

So like a QR code, there's a GS one, , format that will be embedded.

So it will still serve the same purposes that I call it the b2b.

So scanning it across checkout, it can hold a lot more information,

but it's also optimized.

To be smartphone scanner.

So it, it'll serve two purposes, so you can use it at point a checkout, but if

you're in the store, you can scan it as a consumer and that brand who assigns

it can take that consumer back to any proprietary webpage that they want.

So that's, that's coming in five years.

That's interesting.

It's called Sunrise 2027.

so that's our website.

We're on, , LinkedIn at GS one us, we're on Twitter.

, our YouTube channel is good and we, do have a YouTube channel that is highlights

a lot of small business, um, stories about how they, their experience with GS

one us and how, , being affiliated and being a member has helped them actually

scale from direct to consumer and, and have kind of spread their wings out

and hit all these different platforms.

last but not least, listen.

We have a great member services team, , if you want to call or

email them, they're live people.

They're based in the United States.

So if you had any questions, just like, yeah man, I'm on the, I

just wanna know a little bit more.

You can always call 'em and they're, they're awesome.

And, they'll answer all your questions, so.

Awesome.

Perfect.

, we'll put that link below, , this video with all the links just mentioned,

so we'll share that with everybody.

And yeah, thank you very, very much for taking the time to

teach all of us about g t.

I learned a lot today.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate you, us up.

We really do.