June 26, 2024 commemorates 50 years since the debut of the first Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode scan, marking a pivotal moment in retail history. Today, the barcode is used to identify over 1 billion products and is scanned more than 10 billion times daily, serving as a cornerstone of global commerce.

While the UPC has endured for 50 years to aid price lookup at point-of-sale (POS), new two-dimensional (2D) barcodes, such as QR codes powered by GS1, are emerging on product packaging to provide consumers with detailed product information. A 2024 GS1 US consumer survey showed that 77 percent of consumers believe that product information is important when making a purchase and 79 percent of shoppers are more likely to purchase products with a scannable barcode/QR code (via smartphone) that provides the information they are seeking.