How do people use barcodes in the real world?

01/07/2025 jessica Comments 0 Comment

You can see barcodes printed on many products around us. But have you ever wondered about the benefits of these barcodes? They are created to streamline inventory management and improve business productivity.

In manufacturing, barcodes are often printed on all types of inventory, including raw materials, components, work-in-progress, and finished products. Each barcode is assigned to similar products. For example, if a company purchases a consignment of 10,000 screwdrivers, it’s not necessary to print 10,000 different barcodes. Instead, the same barcode can be used for all 10,000 screwdrivers.

When all types of inventory are labeled with barcodes, manufacturers can link these barcodes to detailed product information in their databases. If the information for new products is not yet available, they need to create entries that include the product name, expiry date, supplier, quantity, price, and more. When stock leaves the warehouse, it’s scanned, and the scanner transmits that information to the database, which then updates the inventory accordingly.

At this point, you can begin to understand the role barcodes play. Thanks to barcodes, manufacturers can manage their inventory efficiently and accurately. Instead of manually typing individual product codes (such as EAN-13 or SKUs), a scanner can quickly read the barcode printed on the product. This reduces working time and minimizes typing errors.

Barcodes are commonly used in retail. Retailers source thousands of different products from many suppliers, so they need to find the best way to manage their inventory. Effective inventory management helps reduce the risk of obsolete stock and stockouts.

As you know, when you check out at a supermarket, the cashier scans your items. The scanner reads the black-and-white patterns and converts them into product codes (such as EANs or SKUs). These codes are sent to the product database, which uses them to retrieve product details. From there, the cashier can see the price, and the invoice is generated for you. At the same time, the retailer’s database is updated because the stock has been deducted.

Using barcodes saves time and effort for the cashier. They don’t have to manually enter product codes to search for prices, and they can serve each customer within just a few minutes.

CIPS often includes questions about the advantages of barcodes in its exams. While there aren’t many questions specifically on barcodes, it’s still important to understand how they’re used in real life.

We provide CIPS practice questions with answers and detailed explanation, besides they are updated regularly to reflect the actual exam. If you want to consolidate your knowledge before the exam, you can check the links below

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