Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) can be used by a company to uniquely identify all of its trade items. GS1 defines trade items as products or services that are priced, ordered or invoiced at any point in the supply chain.
Let’s understand what GTIN is and why it is important for your products.
If you’re planning to sell your products in a retail market and want to ensure its effective movement in the supply chain, you need to have a 13-digit GTIN number encoded in the barcode of your product.
Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) is an internationally recognised code to identify trade items that uniquely identify products globally and fetch accurate and efficient product information when scanned at the billing counters in a store or at a warehouse when receiving goods.
GTINs are also used in pharmaceutical drugs, where they are scanned while administering medication in a hospital to enhance patient safety or scanned while effecting receiving or dispatching at a hospital store to maintain inventory, ensure faster processing.
Most commonly used GTINs are 13-digit codes, also known as EAN codes. Also, there are several different types of GTINs used on products. This includes:
GTIN 12: The GTIN-12 is encoded in UPC barcodes, which are predominantly used only in America and Canada. However, North American and Canadian companies have steadily been updating retail Point-of-Sale systems to be able to scan GTIN-13 and GTIN-8. If your trading partner still cannot scan these numbers, only then you will need to use a GTIN-12.
GTIN 13: European Article Number (EAN); 13-digit code used in the rest of the world, including India. GTIN 13 (barcode number) in India starts with 890.
GTIN 8: Allows a smaller barcode to be used on smaller retail trade items.
GTIN 14: Used on general distribution trade items, not intended to be sold at the Point-of-Sale.
GTIN Structure
GTIN Structure includes a string of digits, it can be 8,12,13, or 14 digits in length to accommodate different product limitations. Depending on the length these structures are known as GTIN-8, GTIN-12, GTIN-13, and GTIN-14. The GTIN usually has the following elements:
GTINs are used in various aspects, especially where a product needs identification. That also includes IT systems, physical entities, etc. GS1 Standards define how to format and structure the GTIN in various applications so that the same GTIN can be used to identify the product for any of those needs.
Benefits of labelling your product
By identifying your products with a GTIN number, you can:
If you want to sell your products on any e-commerce platform site, then you would have to register your business at GS1 India's official website for the allocation of GTINs. These are generated through their single repository for data of all the products in India - Datakart. This platform enables the online generation of GTINs and the management of all the product information at one place.
A GTIN code and UPC are not the same in their structure. A GTIN code can have 8,12,13, or 14 digits, while a UPC can only have 12 digits. Another difference between these two is the fact that GTIN codes can be used globally, while UPCs can only be used in North America.
GTIN-14 is a 14 digit number used to allocate trade items at different packaging levels. The encoding of barcodes of the GTIN-14 basically happens within an ITF-14 barcode, but various industries and applications use GS1-128 to encode GTIN-14s.
GTIN also known as Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN) are used to identify every product sold on any e-commerce site. GTIN is a universal identifier that is found on the product's cover or packaging, either above or below the bar code.
GTIN is a unique identifier number that is used in a barcode. It is the numerical form data, and the UPCs or EANs are the barcode images that contain the GTIN.
The SKUs are in the form of a series of numbers and letters that can change depending on the inventory of the product in a specific business. EAN is an international identifier in the form of a barcode image that has been involved in the GTIN system.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
