EAN barcode

What it means

An EAN barcode is an international barcode carrying a unique product number, scanned at the point of sale, on goods receipt and during stocktaking. The most common version is the 13-digit EAN-13, part of the wider GTIN product identification system.

Numbers are issued by GS1, in Slovakia by GS1 Slovakia. A company obtains its own prefix and creates numbers for its products from it, so every product and every variant, such as size or colour, has a unique code valid worldwide.

Retail chains and marketplaces require EANs from suppliers as a condition of listing. Without one, goods cannot be received into stock automatically, sold through the till or matched with other sellers' offers.

How it works in practice

In online sales, the EAN is included in the product feed for price comparison sites and shopping ads. Search engines and comparison sites use it to group the same product from different sellers, and offers without a valid code may get less visibility.

In stock records and a WMS, EANs speed up receiving, picking and stocktaking, because scanning replaces manual lookup and reduces errors. Codes are best managed centrally in a PIM system alongside other product data.

Companies selling other manufacturers' goods use those manufacturers' EANs rather than creating their own. Own numbers are needed by a manufacturer or a brand that has products made under its name, and multipacks use a separate code for the pack.

What to watch out for

Buying cheap EANs from unofficial resellers is risky. The numbers may already belong to another company, and a marketplace or retailer will reject them if they do not match the GS1 register. Getting codes directly from GS1 is safer.

Using the same EAN for different product variants causes errors in stock and in ads. Each size, colour or volume should have its own code, and a change in recipe or pack contents may require a new one.