Gena Morgan, Vice President of Standards at GS1 US, discussed the evolution and future of barcodes, emphasizing the transition from 1D to 2D barcodes by 2027. She highlighted the benefits of 2D barcodes, which can carry more data, including serial numbers and expiration dates, enhancing inventory management and consumer engagement. Morgan explained that GS1 Digital Link standard transforms barcodes into web-resolvable identifiers, linking products to detailed information. She noted ongoing lab tests and small-scale pilots, with real-world implementations expected by next year. Morgan encouraged retailers and brands to start planning now to leverage these advancements
Transcripts
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Mike presented by all access retail.com Welcome to
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Conversations on retail. Join Mike Green as he sits down with
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Gena Morgan, Vice President of standards for GS1 US to discuss
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the role of GS1 in on shelf availability. Let's get started.
Mike Graen:
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening,
Mike Graen:
everybody. My name is Mike Graen, back with another version
Mike Graen:
of on shelf availability. Can't talk. It's Friday, sponsored by
Mike Graen:
conversations at retail and the University of Arkansas supply
Mike Graen:
chain. We've got a return guest. Gina. Gina Gina, thank you so
Mike Graen:
much. Gina Morgan, with GS1 is back, Gina, I understand we are
Mike Graen:
the only thing standing between you and a vacation, so we're
Mike Graen:
gonna be very, very, very efficient with our time here and
Mike Graen:
just hit the highlights so you can get packing and get out of
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town. But for those, those of you who don't know Gina, Gina,
Mike Graen:
what you go ahead, unmute and introduce yourself to the
Mike Graen:
audience. You're unmuted. Okay.
Gina Morgan:
Hi. I am Gina Morgan. I am the Vice President
Gina Morgan:
of standards at GS1 US. I've been in that role for about four
Gina Morgan:
years, but I have maybe three. Who knows what is time Mike, but
Gina Morgan:
I have been around GS1 in this, in the development of industry
Gina Morgan:
standards, for 25 years now. And prior to that, I was a retail
Gina Morgan:
kid. I grew up in retail. My parents were in retail. I
Gina Morgan:
started my career as a merchant in a department store,
Gina Morgan:
retailing. And so it's just pretty much been my life. And
Gina Morgan:
back when the computer became a thing, just kidding, I'm not
Gina Morgan:
that old. I transitioned into systems and efficiency and
Gina Morgan:
supply chain. So it's been just a tremendous pleasure working in
Gina Morgan:
the field, trying to solve the problems of retail.
Mike Graen:
Well, 25 years, that means you were involved,
Mike Graen:
probably in the very early days, where we are literally trying to
Mike Graen:
create standards of how we were going to electronically
Mike Graen:
transplant purchase orders and invoices and and all that stuff.
Mike Graen:
I was on, indeed, yeah, I was on. I was on a call yesterday
Mike Graen:
with Matthew, who's on your team, and and I started making
Mike Graen:
references to when I first started working with P and G and
Mike Graen:
Walmart. We did all of the business of those two great big
Mike Graen:
companies via fax machine, and that was one of my first jobs,
Mike Graen:
just to move that to EDI. And the standards were being
Mike Graen:
developed and in a consistent way. And it was a lifesaver,
Mike Graen:
because otherwise, if I'm Walmart, I've got 1000 different
Mike Graen:
suppliers, I got to communicate all with them differently. That
Mike Graen:
doesn't make any sense. So, huge, huge help. Huge, huge
Mike Graen:
help. So standards and this focus, the focus of this channel
Mike Graen:
has always been just kind of on shelf availability, getting
Mike Graen:
product on the shelf for the customers to buy. So obviously,
Mike Graen:
things like EDI creates standards, but we've also got
Mike Graen:
standards for other things, such as, how do you actually, how do
Mike Graen:
you actually produce a barcode, a label? And we're going to get
Mike Graen:
into this later, but we're celebrating the 50th year of the
Mike Graen:
barcode. We're also introducing that, just like everything else
Mike Graen:
we're looking at continuing to grow that. So tell us a little
Mike Graen:
bit about how standards really impact and really help us get
Mike Graen:
product on the shelf for customers.
Gina Morgan:
I will, if you don't mind, I'll take a step
Gina Morgan:
back into my beginnings as an apparel merchant, just for a bit
Gina Morgan:
truly was one when I was an assistant buyer, they were just
Gina Morgan:
starting to roll out that UPC code, and so that was probably
Gina Morgan:
mid 90s, so a little less than 50 years ago, but and prior to
Gina Morgan:
that, you just kept stock of what was in the store by an SKU,
Gina Morgan:
and so you really couldn't track what inventory did you have,
Gina Morgan:
what did you need, what was you couldn't even track sales by you
Gina Morgan:
could track it by SKU, but you couldn't do color, size, all the
Gina Morgan:
things that you Want to track in order to be able to have
Gina Morgan:
maintain your inventory of accuracy and things like that.
Gina Morgan:
So I have been there from the beginning. It's called floor
Gina Morgan:
ready merchandise initiative, and I was there at the
Gina Morgan:
beginning, and here I find myself now driving those
Gina Morgan:
industry initiatives forward. So that barcode that you spoke
Gina Morgan:
about that began 50 years ago. To make checkout more efficiency
Gina Morgan:
has evolved to manage inventory, to do things like that, and it's
Gina Morgan:
evolved into things like serialized identification, which
Gina Morgan:
gets you even more granular on about what's in your store.
Gina Morgan:
Consumers are now demanding a unified always on, always open
Gina Morgan:
shopping experience, and retailers, marketplaces, brand
Gina Morgan:
owners, manufacturers, all the folks involved, Mike are seeking
Gina Morgan:
ways to keep pace and grow and standards really are important
Gina Morgan:
for interoperability, which leads interoperability is
Gina Morgan:
essential to. Solution choice. So what I choose to operate my
Gina Morgan:
business may be different from what you choose to operate your
Gina Morgan:
business, and we can compete on what those solutions look like,
Gina Morgan:
but standards bring it all together, because they can now
Gina Morgan:
speak to one another. So it really you could think about
Gina Morgan:
standards in a way that don't deal with retail, and that's how
Gina Morgan:
we talk on the phone with one another, that's how we surf the
Gina Morgan:
internet. All of those things are are important in keeping
Gina Morgan:
things connected, and standards are at the heart of
Mike Graen:
it, yeah, well, we think a little bit about just,
Mike Graen:
just the invention of the UPC. And it was during my early days
Mike Graen:
that I kind of said that too, if I remember correctly, the
Mike Graen:
primary driving factor for coming up with that is they
Mike Graen:
didn't want to have to price sticker every single unit,
Mike Graen:
right? That was the driving factor. It was really more of an
Mike Graen:
efficiency play. But just the talk with us a little bit of
Mike Graen:
what are the other things, I mean, once we go, okay, well,
Mike Graen:
yeah, now we don't have to, we can just scan it. We don't have
Mike Graen:
to literally key it in every time, but some of the unlock of
Mike Graen:
how we leverage that UPC, you mentioned being able to track
Mike Graen:
sales. Ever thought about that? The other things that people
Mike Graen:
once it was in place all sudden, said, Well, if that's in place,
Mike Graen:
we can use it for the following things. Do you have some other
Mike Graen:
examples of what that would look like?
Gina Morgan:
Yeah inventory management is the big one,
Gina Morgan:
right? And you hit on it prior to that, like you knew what you
Gina Morgan:
sold by going and counting it on the shelf at the end of every
Gina Morgan:
night. So there's total efficiency, sales, volume, the
Gina Morgan:
success of a promotion, anything that allowed that, what the bar
Gina Morgan:
code unlocked was, I think it's just masterful, actually, when
Gina Morgan:
you think, when you think about it and how it evolved commerce,
Gina Morgan:
but that automatic identification that you can get
Gina Morgan:
from a single scan, depending on how, what, what data stream
Gina Morgan:
you're feeding that can has done a lot of things. It's made the
Gina Morgan:
supply chain more efficient. We We moved from just putting the
Gina Morgan:
UPC code on a product to using similar, different, different
Gina Morgan:
identification, but similar bar code symbology to track
Gina Morgan:
shipments and containers and ships and so that really just
Gina Morgan:
unlocks the visibility of the entire supply chain. Now, have
Gina Morgan:
we perfected it? I mean, I think the pandemic would would point
Gina Morgan:
to, maybe not, because now, but, but that's really what, what the
Gina Morgan:
next evolution of identification and automatic data capture can
Gina Morgan:
unlock is being able to see and divert and move and respond in a
Gina Morgan:
much more dynamic way than we've been able to
Mike Graen:
Yeah that's a that's a perfect segue. Because what
Mike Graen:
we're talking about with this sunrise 2027. Is something that,
Mike Graen:
frankly, we've been doing at retail for a while. We just
Mike Graen:
didn't call it that. It was called radio frequency
Mike Graen:
identification. The RF part is how we actually capture the
Mike Graen:
information. The ID part was always the identification. I
Mike Graen:
have a prop here, so I've got this bottle of Windex. It's got
Mike Graen:
a up sequence, and today we can go this UPC. I've got 10 of
Mike Graen:
them, right, but I can't distinguish this one from the
Mike Graen:
other nine. They all look the same. You guys are really kind
Mike Graen:
of leading the way from an industry standpoint, which is
Mike Graen:
much better than the industry needing it, and you guys not
Mike Graen:
having it. You guys are doing a really good job of saying we
Mike Graen:
need to uniquely be able to identify and track these
Mike Graen:
individual units. Okay, why would we need to do that?
Mike Graen:
Because, hey, UPC qualities worked forever. Why do I need to
Mike Graen:
be able to track whether it's this or or a television or
Mike Graen:
whatever? Why do I need to be able to track an individual unit
Mike Graen:
level,
Gina Morgan:
a few reasons. And you can, you can serialize. You
Gina Morgan:
can, there's different forms of serialization, right? You can go
Gina Morgan:
to a batch or a lot number, which is still not a very
Gina Morgan:
specific instance, like you talked about with the with the
Gina Morgan:
nine distinct instances of Windex. But you so you can go to
Gina Morgan:
a batch lot. And what that gives you is I don't need to pull
Gina Morgan:
every bag of potentially contaminated produce. I don't
Gina Morgan:
want to name any any particular commodity, but at batch and lot,
Gina Morgan:
when you know that, you can then zero in on on maybe there's an
Gina Morgan:
incident or a problem with something. And so that allowed
Gina Morgan:
that granular identification helps you pinpoint and
Gina Morgan:
understand things like that. Serialization gets you to a
Gina Morgan:
finer level of granularity. And so now I can track a specific
Gina Morgan:
instance of a television set. I can count them without radio
Gina Morgan:
frequency identification, that's a requirement so the reader, you
Gina Morgan:
can be hands free, and I can count I can wave a magic wand,
Gina Morgan:
and I know that I've got 10 things there unique things
Gina Morgan:
without serialization. I don't know if I've read 10 distinct
Gina Morgan:
things or I read one thing 10 times. So that's where
Gina Morgan:
serialization and that fine level granularity unlocks a lot
Gina Morgan:
of different technology, but also a lot of different use
Gina Morgan:
cases, I would say. Say that speaking to where the consumer
Gina Morgan:
is headed, the consumer wants more information about the thing
Gina Morgan:
they're holding in their hand. And to do that, that granular
Gina Morgan:
level identification is also extremely valuable, because
Gina Morgan:
something might one thing, one might be manufactured in
Gina Morgan:
different places, so it looks the same on the shelf, right?
Gina Morgan:
But it actually might have come from a different part of the
Gina Morgan:
world, because they're manufactured in different parts
Gina Morgan:
of the world. But maybe that matters to me, and so having
Gina Morgan:
that granular identification will allow me to link to the
Gina Morgan:
specific information about that instance of the thing. Yeah,
Gina Morgan:
that makes sense. Mike
Mike Graen:
Great example. Great example. I gave you one more
Mike Graen:
that I've used with several retailers, because,
Mike Graen:
specifically, when people are looking to get their on hand
Mike Graen:
accurate so they can take care of their online customers,
Mike Graen:
that's usually a big thing. So we got to get their inventory
Mike Graen:
right. We got to get their inventory right. Well, I've
Mike Graen:
given this example before, but let's just say I have three of
Mike Graen:
these television set, a specific television set. If I have three
Mike Graen:
in the building, I may or may not have three to sell. Correct?
Mike Graen:
What do you mean by that? Mike, well, one of them could be on
Mike Graen:
the back wall showing customers how they work. That's in the
Mike Graen:
building, but it's not available for sale. One of them could
Mike Graen:
have, hey, we've got to open it up, and we're playing a video on
Mike Graen:
an end at end cap somewhere, again, that's in the building,
Mike Graen:
but not available for sale. And one of them could have been a
Mike Graen:
customer just returned because there's a problem with it. So
Mike Graen:
they took it from the returns desk. They've got it back in
Mike Graen:
claims to evaluate whether it's sellable or not? Well, the
Mike Graen:
reality is, my on hand is perfectly accurate, 100% but I
Mike Graen:
have none available to sell today. I can't distinguish those
Mike Graen:
with this serialized information. I can literally say
Mike Graen:
number one, number two, number three, not for sale. Brilliant
Mike Graen:
example. That's powerful. That's powerful. So
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Mike Graen:
so what's GS1 done about this? So we know that I
Mike Graen:
the serial identification has always been in the RFID
Mike Graen:
platform. But there's not everything makes sense from an
Mike Graen:
RFID standpoint. So you guys have come up with this new set
Mike Graen:
of guidelines, and I'll have a one pager on the screen that
Mike Graen:
will show it, and we're gonna later, we'll show, after we get
Mike Graen:
done talking, I'll show the GS1 John Phillips video is what I
Mike Graen:
call it. Was okay about that, but talk to us about the whole
Mike Graen:
idea of you guys have called it sunrise 2027 not sunset. We're
Mike Graen:
not sunsetting anything. We're sun rising, a new capability.
Mike Graen:
Tell us a little bit about that. What drove that? Where are you
Mike Graen:
in the deployment stage? What kind of adoption Are you seeing?
Mike Graen:
Just anything you want to share with us about that, that topic?
Gina Morgan:
Yeah, sure. So I'll go a couple, a couple of ways
Gina Morgan:
here, but just going back to the OG barcode, the UPC, it has done
Gina Morgan:
a tremendous job of doing what it was supposed to do, and it
Gina Morgan:
did actually more than that, as we've talked about. But it's
Gina Morgan:
original, beep at the checkout give you a price, and now we
Gina Morgan:
live in this age of a connected consumer. The explosion of
Gina Morgan:
digital access to content is key element to remain competitive.
Gina Morgan:
Just got to do more, and that product's got to tell a story,
Gina Morgan:
both to the consumer and into the supply chain, frankly. So
Gina Morgan:
that barcode that we have now that we know and love, it can
Gina Morgan:
only carry an identifier. You need finer granular
Gina Morgan:
identification, like we talked about. It could be the batch
Gina Morgan:
lot. It could be a serial number. And I just want to be
Gina Morgan:
clear, you might not be serializing fast moving consumer
Gina Morgan:
goods, where they go super fast down the line. That might not
Gina Morgan:
make sense now, as as technology evolves, I think one day, yeah,
Gina Morgan:
but still, you have that capability to do that with what
Gina Morgan:
we call a 2d bar code, whether that's a QR code or a data
Gina Morgan:
matrix code there, and which is just a slight difference. We
Gina Morgan:
won't get too nerdy here, Mike, but a 2d bar code can carry more
Gina Morgan:
information. It can carry the serialization. It could carry an
Gina Morgan:
expiration date. It can carry a lot of things that can now be
Gina Morgan:
automatically captured through a scan. 1d bar code can't do that.
Gina Morgan:
The UPC code can't do that. You have to link to a whole bunch of
Gina Morgan:
information about it, and you still can't get to things like
Gina Morgan:
the expiration date and that sort of thing. So first and
Gina Morgan:
foremost, we need to know more about the product, not we need
Gina Morgan:
that product to tell us its story. And so you need a data
Gina Morgan:
carrier that supports that has the capacity to carry more data
Gina Morgan:
in it. But more importantly, you need that to be web resolvable.
Gina Morgan:
And so our standard GS1 digital link is the standard that takes
Gina Morgan:
a number, the UPC code, plus some additional numbers, the
Gina Morgan:
batch lot, the serial serial number, the expiration date, and
Gina Morgan:
transform that into a web address. So now I can link to
Gina Morgan:
the story of that product and that that resolvable identity
Gina Morgan:
can link you to things like certifications and claims. It
Gina Morgan:
could link you to country of origin. It could link you to a
Gina Morgan:
number of coupons. It can promos, whatever you want to do.
Gina Morgan:
So you could bring in the consumer to give them an
Gina Morgan:
experience, but you can also satisfy their desire for more
Gina Morgan:
information about that product, all at the same time, being able
Gina Morgan:
to go beep at the checkout, just like the UPC code does today. So
Gina Morgan:
there's this convergence of of of things, where it's granular
Gina Morgan:
identification, web resolvability, links to other
Gina Morgan:
data about that product that that work together through a
Gina Morgan:
series of standards that tell that, that allow you to tell
Gina Morgan:
that product story.
Mike Graen:
I've said this before. If there's one good
Mike Graen:
thing that came out of COVID, everybody can use their phone to
Mike Graen:
order food at a restaurant. Everybody knows how to do that.
Mike Graen:
Nobody knew how to do that before. So what you're basically
Mike Graen:
doing is you're putting that kind of capability that happens
Mike Graen:
to be a QR code, but that same kind of capability for every
Mike Graen:
item, I can go look and find out a lot more than just what the
Mike Graen:
item is, right, where it was manufactured, any potential
Mike Graen:
health hazards, or does it? Does it contain peanut butter, or
Mike Graen:
whatever? Those things happen to be rom a consumer facing
Mike Graen:
standpoint, I've become a lot more educated about the products
Mike Graen:
I'm buying.
Gina Morgan:
Yeah, that's for sure. And the thing is, like,
Gina Morgan:
there are QR codes on products today, you can go pick up any.
Gina Morgan:
Probably have something on my shelf right now. I do right
Gina Morgan:
here. Here's a QR code on a box or something, and that will take
Gina Morgan:
me to, likely, the product page that the brand wants to send me
Gina Morgan:
to. It's a you dug into what that is. It's just a web address
Gina Morgan:
you when you use a standard, and it's a proprietary web address
Gina Morgan:
that that brand put in there when you use a standard that
Gina Morgan:
also incorporates the UPC code, or the UPC code and the lot,
Gina Morgan:
then that allows you to tell the story about that lot, or that
Gina Morgan:
batch, or whatever, of that box of crackers, and then, because
Gina Morgan:
the identifier is in there, you could do all the supply chain
Gina Morgan:
processes that our UPC code did. And that's really the importance
Gina Morgan:
of moving to a 2d bar code. It allows you to put more data in
Gina Morgan:
the code, and so the that then allows you to tell a deeper,
Gina Morgan:
richer story, and it also can then allow you to create, to
Gina Morgan:
manage the supply chain processes that has have always
Gina Morgan:
been done and that we talked about earlier.
Mike Graen:
How about food? I'm just going to play this all the
Mike Graen:
way out. I am standing in front of a whole bunch of bananas. Can
Mike Graen:
I pick up a set up bananas and scan that code and tell me what
Mike Graen:
the life history, when was it picked, when it was a wrap?
Mike Graen:
Because bringing home bananas or strawberries that get moldy the
Mike Graen:
next day, etc, never is a really good experience, right? So is
Mike Graen:
that kind of information available, or potentially
Gina Morgan:
it absolutely is, and I will admit and be
Gina Morgan:
perfectly transparent, that there are some produce companies
Gina Morgan:
who have a QR code on it today that tell you where it came
Gina Morgan:
from, what farm was it produced. The difference here and where
Gina Morgan:
we're moving to is you can combine that it once you use the
Gina Morgan:
GS1 digital link standard, you bring all of that together. So I
Gina Morgan:
now don't need a UPC plus that QR code. It all comes together
Gina Morgan:
in one code. So I could tell, that's right, I could tell where
Gina Morgan:
that where those strawberries were farmed, and I can check it
Gina Morgan:
out and at the cash register all in a single code.
Mike Graen:
Wow. So, so let's talk about the actual
Mike Graen:
transaction part of that. I go to the register today. I'm
Mike Graen:
scanning basically my 1d bar code, right? And it just looks
Mike Graen:
up the price, and away we go. When I use this 2d bar code or
Mike Graen:
this at the register, I'm assuming the same thing happens.
Mike Graen:
I'm going to go look up the price and charge the customer.
Mike Graen:
What are the other things that I could possibly do with that?
Gina Morgan:
Yeah, long term, that is exactly what is, how
Gina Morgan:
it's going to work. It'll go beep. And It'll give you a price
Gina Morgan:
from that 2d code. If there's additional data in the code,
Gina Morgan:
let's say it is a lot number, or it's an expiration date. What
Gina Morgan:
you can do as a retailer with you know, upgrades to your POS
Gina Morgan:
system is say, Nope, I'm not going to let you walk out of
Gina Morgan:
here, because that's actually a recall product, or that's that's
Gina Morgan:
close to expiration. You know, there might be some dynamic
Gina Morgan:
pricing or something like that that you you might do or don't
Gina Morgan:
let your customer walk out with an expired product, because
Gina Morgan:
there's nothing worse than getting home and seeing that my
Gina Morgan:
milks expired. Hasn't happened often, but does, and that's not
Gina Morgan:
delighting the customer.
Mike Graen:
Wow, that's a that's huge. That's huge. While that
Mike Graen:
may sound like an inconvenience at the register, that's really,
Mike Graen:
I think most people would go, I'm sorry, this one has expired.
Mike Graen:
We're going to go run and get you another one and take care of
Mike Graen:
you. I think the first time that happens, you probably go, What
Mike Graen:
are you talking about? The second time, it's like, well,
Mike Graen:
thank you. I don't want something that's going to expire
Mike Graen:
right away. That's cool. That's cool.
Gina Morgan:
Also just add that, you know, there's some food
Gina Morgan:
regulations that are on the horizon that do require you
Gina Morgan:
track certain things, certain high risk foods that might have
Gina Morgan:
been transformed in your commissary, at the retail space,
Gina Morgan:
that if you that this 2d bar code will allow you to put that
Gina Morgan:
block code in the bar code, and so it will allow you to comply
Gina Morgan:
with some of those regulations in an efficient way.
Mike Graen:
Well, I've got two more examples that I think would
Mike Graen:
be pretty powerful for you guys to help. I'm helping you market
Mike Graen:
a little bit. Number one, if I'm literally scanning a unique
Mike Graen:
serial number, I may not have to go have my associates mark down
Mike Graen:
stuff, because I just realized everything I was supposed to
Mike Graen:
mark down just sold today. I don't know. Right in the future,
Mike Graen:
I should be able to know. Here's the other one. And I just got
Mike Graen:
off a call yesterday with Joe Cole, who's who's the vice
Mike Graen:
president of asset protection at Macy's, and he's leading the way
Mike Graen:
with RFID and the whole idea of leveraging RFID with asset
Mike Graen:
protection. But still, the industry is comparing what did I
Mike Graen:
sell at a UPC or G 1014, level to what all left the store at a
Mike Graen:
serial number level. So let's give you an example, five pairs
Mike Graen:
of blue jeans left the store. I'm sorry, were sold at the
Mike Graen:
register, but 10 left the store. Yeah, so obviously, five got
Mike Graen:
stolen. But which five got stolen versus which? I can't
Mike Graen:
tell you, somebody comes in and returns one. Was that one that
Mike Graen:
was bought, or was that the one that was stolen? I don't know.
Mike Graen:
So to me, this next level of asset protection is actually
Mike Graen:
comparing the serialized G 10 at the register to the serialized G
Mike Graen:
10 at the exit. Well, guess what? RFID can't really do that
Mike Graen:
very well, or it can, but it potentially would get overreads
Mike Graen:
of other stuff in the area, because you didn't get
Mike Graen:
everything if you start to leverage that and have the same
Mike Graen:
RFID serialization in the tag that's on the label. You can
Mike Graen:
actually pull those things together.
Gina Morgan:
Yeah, I'll give you another one. Is in addition to
Gina Morgan:
theft, that another form of that is returns fraud, and we've all
Gina Morgan:
been, you know, where the they scan your product and then they
Gina Morgan:
scan a sticker, and they put the sticker on your on your pair of
Gina Morgan:
shoes. When you get to marrying that serialized RFID tag, that
Gina Morgan:
serialized G 10, you put that into a 2d code. Now I can
Gina Morgan:
capture that at point of sale. And like you're right, there are
Gina Morgan:
RFID point of sale systems, but that's a CapEx expense as well.
Gina Morgan:
And so this is another way to capture that a point of sale, so
Gina Morgan:
I know I can prevent returns from which is huge in the
Gina Morgan:
apparel and general merchandise.
Mike Graen:
Well, here's the other the other great news about
Mike Graen:
this, but it's also a complexity. Everybody's looking
Mike Graen:
for that single solution. I just want a scanner based solution. I
Mike Graen:
just want a computer vision based solution. I just want an
Mike Graen:
RFID solution. The reality is, at least I've been around long
Mike Graen:
enough to know I don't think there is a silver bullet. I
Mike Graen:
think it's going to be, how do we get those to work together?
Mike Graen:
Because if I can scan it at a register with a scanner,
Mike Graen:
obviously2d barcode, and that 2d bar code actually matches the
Mike Graen:
serialized number that's embedded in the tag. I can link
Mike Graen:
them together, but they would be different data captures, but
Mike Graen:
it's still pointing to the same thing, right? Absolutely,
Gina Morgan:
and I wholeheartedly agree. I always
Gina Morgan:
say like, it's not an either or, it's a bunch of ands and listen,
Gina Morgan:
machine vision and where technology is evolving is super
Gina Morgan:
amazing, right? I always go back to, how do you tell the organic
Gina Morgan:
banana from the regular banana? They're both bananas, and the
Gina Morgan:
machine doesn't know, I mean, and so that's my question every
Gina Morgan:
time I go. So it is a bunch of ands put together to give you a
Gina Morgan:
solution that will solve all of the problems. And it's up to us,
Gina Morgan:
and that's where standards become super important, right?
Gina Morgan:
It still should rely on that unique identification in
Gina Morgan:
whatever data capture mechanism, whatever sensor you've got going
Gina Morgan:
on to whatever level of granularity you want to identify
Gina Morgan:
the thing to solve your business problem. And the business
Gina Morgan:
problems we're trying to solve become more and more and more
Gina Morgan:
complex, which is what requires granular identification and put
Gina Morgan:
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Mike Graen:
so you guys call this sunrise 2027, by the way
Mike Graen:
2027, that's several years away. I don't have to worry about
Mike Graen:
that. The reality we retailers and suppliers need to be
Mike Graen:
thinking about that now and implementing things now. Where
Mike Graen:
is the industry really, really on the maybe not the full
Mike Graen:
adoption of this. But do you get? Are you getting a lot of
Mike Graen:
queries there? Don't need specific examples, but queries
Mike Graen:
from retailers and suppliers, how to so they so they're
Mike Graen:
working on it now to be ready for 2027
Gina Morgan:
Yeah, so we GS1 have spent several years working
Gina Morgan:
in the lab, right, and doing lab testing on reading 2d barcodes
Gina Morgan:
at point of sale, with biopic scanners, with handheld
Gina Morgan:
scanners, to ensure that we don't break anything by the move
Gina Morgan:
to this 2d bar code, that things don't ring up twice if there's
Gina Morgan:
Two barcodes on there, which there will be for a period of
Gina Morgan:
time, that things can still go quickly. Because the whole point
Gina Morgan:
of the barcode was to speed up checkout. So we don't want to
Gina Morgan:
introduce this whiz bang barcode and then everything slows down.
Gina Morgan:
We certainly don't want to do that. So we spent a lot of time
Gina Morgan:
in the lab testing that and and and got it to the right point,
Gina Morgan:
all of the scanner manufacturers were part of that to get it to
Gina Morgan:
acceptable levels. And now we have retail partners that are
Gina Morgan:
testing now. They are testing in small scale pilots at the
Gina Morgan:
moment, but they are doing that with real world product. You
Gina Morgan:
will find product on the shelf at a grocery store that has a QR
Gina Morgan:
code with a GS1 digital lake and the UPC code and other data in
Gina Morgan:
it today there, there are products out there that the
Gina Morgan:
brands have started marking with that. I expect that next year
Gina Morgan:
will bring us some real life implementations of 2d bar codes
Gina Morgan:
in store for sure
Mike Graen:
awesome, awesome. So I would imagine that it's not
Mike Graen:
just the point of sale systems, because a lot of retailers, we
Mike Graen:
have these personal shoppers, bopis, whatever you want to call
Mike Graen:
it, but people shopping on behalf of shoppers. Yeah, so I'm
Mike Graen:
assuming anything I'm using to actually deliver a customer
Mike Graen:
order, even if it's a handheld device has to be able to read
Mike Graen:
that, that QR code, or that GS1 data link as well, right?
Gina Morgan:
Yes, yes, for sure. What's interesting about that
Gina Morgan:
and that particular you know, when you've got somebody else
Gina Morgan:
buying your, your groceries for you, or whatever it might be,
Gina Morgan:
there could be minor variations in a product, right? And but it
Gina Morgan:
still has the same G 10. It's a minor variation. Maybe it's a
Gina Morgan:
Messi bag of chips, meaning Lionel Messi versus Ronaldo. I
Gina Morgan:
guess I'm not a soccer person, football. I mean American
Gina Morgan:
football. I'm getting it all wrong here, Mike, but that might
Gina Morgan:
be what you want to purchase. Maybe you're having a birthday
Gina Morgan:
party for your kid, and he's a Messi fan. And so there's
Gina Morgan:
another piece of data that we call label variant, or consumer
Gina Morgan:
product variant, that could distinguish this bag of Messi
Gina Morgan:
chips from Ronaldo bag of chips. And so that can also be put in
Gina Morgan:
this 2d code, and that would serve that guy that's picking
Gina Morgan:
it. I don't want this just any bag of chips. I want that bag of
Gina Morgan:
chips. While it still has the same UPC code, it has this
Gina Morgan:
slight variation on it, and so, yeah, it allows you to fulfill
Gina Morgan:
orders to exactly what I put in my basket online.
Mike Graen:
Gina, this has been incredibly helpful. Thank you so
Mike Graen:
much for this. Where do Where do people go if they want more
Mike Graen:
information, if this has piqued their interest and they're
Mike Graen:
interested in finding out more, where can they go within? Gs1,
Mike Graen:
to find out more information about this? Sure.
Gina Morgan:
So we our web page. GS1us.org, sunrise, 2027, give
Gina Morgan:
it a search there, and you will find some stuff, but also
Gina Morgan:
sunrise2027@GS1US.org. Is an email that you could send us a
Gina Morgan:
note and tell us your more, your you would are interested in
Gina Morgan:
learning more, and I've got a whole team ready to talk to you.
Mike Graen:
Yes, perfect. All right, my favorite question for
Mike Graen:
the end of these What did I not ask you that I should have,
Mike Graen:
what's on your mind of something that we should have talked about
Mike Graen:
but I didn't ask you about, or if just have any other closing
Mike Graen:
comments that you want
Gina Morgan:
to make, I would just say, I think you hit on it
Gina Morgan:
at the beginning, like, and actually, though, when you think
Gina Morgan:
about it, 2027, is like tomorrow, at least when you get
Gina Morgan:
to be my age, it goes pretty fast, but, but, but you should
Gina Morgan:
Start now, and we do anticipate a transition. There will be a
Gina Morgan:
time where there will be the 1d bar code and the 2d bar code on
Gina Morgan:
pack. And if a brand never wants to realize the benefits of what
Gina Morgan:
a 2d bar code can bring, that's cool. They could keep the 1d bar
Gina Morgan:
code. You can keep the UPC. We're not mandating that at this
Gina Morgan:
point. All standards are voluntary anyway. But you you
Gina Morgan:
should get started now, though, and make your plan. And I would
Gina Morgan:
suggest identifying the stakeholders within your
Gina Morgan:
organization, if you're a brand, that might be your brand
Gina Morgan:
marketing team. And oddly, we don't talk enough to the brand
Gina Morgan:
marketers. When you think about what we're doing here, it is
Gina Morgan:
going to free up a lot of space on pack, and that should be a
Gina Morgan:
brand marketers dream. It is also going to allow you to serve
Gina Morgan:
up a consumer experience in a way that you can't do today.
Gina Morgan:
Also a brand marketers team, but then there's operations and
Gina Morgan:
supply chain, all those other folks. So so really starting to
Gina Morgan:
explore what this means for you and what it can unlock, and
Gina Morgan:
putting your teams together for the brand. That's what I
Gina Morgan:
recommend. Now, from a retailer perspective, it's really getting
Gina Morgan:
in touch with your scanner manufacturers and your POS host
Gina Morgan:
systems to start to prepare the ability to read. In most cases,
Gina Morgan:
I would say, Mike, 90% in our research, about 90% of retailers
Gina Morgan:
have optical scanners today. That's the number one
Gina Morgan:
requirement, by the way, you have to have an optical scanner
Gina Morgan:
in order to read and process the barcode. And then there's some
Gina Morgan:
firmware upgrades and a little and some some software changes
Gina Morgan:
that you need to make so that you can read it. It won't beep
Gina Morgan:
twice. You can read it fast, and all those sorts of things. So
Gina Morgan:
it's really important to get started now and start to make
Gina Morgan:
your plan. And we will, we will help prepare you for 2027 and
Gina Morgan:
the sunrise, like you said, it's not a sunset. It is a sunrise.
Gina Morgan:
And it could be a gradual sunset, like John Phillips
Gina Morgan:
always says, it's not like this being a light at you. It is.
Gina Morgan:
It's a slow sunrise. And so we want to make sure that industry
Gina Morgan:
is prepared for that.
Mike Graen:
Well, Gina, I can't thank you enough for spending
Mike Graen:
some time on I said, and I gave you guys credit, and it would
Mike Graen:
that credit didn't always exist when I was working in the very
Mike Graen:
early 80s around EDI implementations, it felt like
Mike Graen:
GS1 was just lagging. We'd have to go, Hey, we're ready to do
Mike Graen:
EDI for advanced shipment notifications. Oh, we got to
Mike Graen:
trade a standard for that. How about electronic funds transfer?
Mike Graen:
So you were always just, you were there, but you were always
Mike Graen:
lagging a little bit. Now, you guys are way out front. You've
Mike Graen:
done the research. You know where the industry is going.
Mike Graen:
There's nothing better than having standards. And I would
Mike Graen:
argue that you don't have to adopt standards, but that's like
Mike Graen:
saying you really need to drive on the right side of the road of
Mike Graen:
the United States, not the left side. You can drive on the left
Mike Graen:
side. Doesn't work very well, but you're thinking out the way
Mike Graen:
that things happen. And they all have a standard way. And I think
Mike Graen:
you guys just the way you're thinking about, you know, this
Mike Graen:
whole moving to serialized data with a scanner based like GS1
Mike Graen:
digitally, you're way ahead of the industry. You're you're
Mike Graen:
going to create capability that people will start to take
Mike Graen:
advantage of. It'll seem like it's taking a long time, and it
Mike Graen:
is, but it's already there. It's not like we've got to be, you
Mike Graen:
know, screaming at GS1 We need standards for this. So thank you
Mike Graen:
guys for doing that, and I know you also have a huge marketing
Mike Graen:
job ahead of you. You got a lot of people to tell the story.
Mike Graen:
Hopefully this podcast is a very small step towards that, but I
Mike Graen:
want to thank you for that you enjoy your vacation. Deserve it.
Mike Graen:
And anything else that you want to say before we close out?
Gina Morgan:
Yeah, I do want to I appreciate the the kind words
Gina Morgan:
about about GS1 and how we have evolved over the years. I've
Gina Morgan:
been there for a lot of the decades that we've done that,
Gina Morgan:
but we we're created by industry and governed by industry, so a
Gina Morgan:
lot of credit goes to industry being willing to charge us with
Gina Morgan:
looking ahead and around the corner and trusting us to do
Gina Morgan:
that. So thanks to all of our industry partners as well, but
Gina Morgan:
we are excited about that future.
Mike Graen:
Awesome. Well, thank you for your time. Have a great
Mike Graen:
vacation. And hey, I helped hear 2025 we're going to hear success
Mike Graen:
stories about 2027 How about that?
Gina Morgan:
Yes, sir, yes, sir. And you'll have me back, because
Gina Morgan:
I love being on a podcast with you. Mr. Green.
Mike Graen:
Awesome. I enjoyed as well. Gina, have a great rest
Mike Graen:
of your day. Bye, bye, everybody, bye, All right, bye,