The GS1 Databar Coupon codes have been in use in retail industry since the mid-1980s. At first, it was a UPC with system ID 5. Since UPCs cannot hold more than 12 digits, it requires another bar code to hold the additional information like offer code, expiration date or household ID numbers. Therefore, it gets extension to UCC/EAN 128 bar code attached to it. EAN 13 bar code was also in use instead of UPC, which starts with 99, hence called EAN 99 coupon barcode. After more than 20 years in use, now there is a need to encode more data for complex couponing, and accommodate longer company ID, and the traditional coupon code becomes less efficient and sometimes not usable at all.[1]
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Traditional UPC/EAN Coupon code can hold a company prefix that is 6 digits long, but now GS1 is assigning Company Prefixes that are more than 6 digits long. Therefore a company holding an ID number with more than 6 digits cannot use the old UPC bar code for their coupon.
For marketing purposes, many complex offers are not possible to encode with the old coupon bar code. For example, buy a shampoo and a conditioner, and get a hair cut free.
In many cases, salesman need to enter information manually with traditional coupon bar codes, especially when a product is free. This manual process delays the purchase transaction.
Since the old coupon cannot hold much data, information is required to be manually entered, hence making the process more error prone.
Delays at the register and incorrectly processed coupons cost retailers a large amount of income.[2]
There are many limitations and disadvantages with the traditional UPC/EAN based coupons. In order to encounter these problems GS1 comes up with a new solution for coupon barcode. Instead of using UPC barcode and Extended UCC/EAN part, it is decided to use GS1 DataBar Expanded Stacked (formerly RSS Expanded Stacked) bar code. This bar code can hold up to 74 numeric data with multiple application Identifiers, like expiration date, serial number, etc.[3]
GS1 laid out specific instruction on how to compose new coupon data to be encoded with DataBar Expanded Stacked barcode. They plan to roll out in two phases, first interim phase where a UPC will be intact for backward compatibility along with expanded bar code. This interim process started in 2007. By 2011, the final phase with stand alone Expanded Stacked barcode for coupon will be in fact. By 2014, everyone should adopt new GS1 coupon format.
Human readable is important to have when bar code does not scan and human interaction is required. It is recommended that GS1 company Prefix and offer code, separated by a dash, is stated on top of Expanded Stacked bar code. Although OCR-B is widely used as a human readable font, any font that clearly states the human readable part will be sufficient.