Even the smallest operational detail can make or break a product’s success, and few details are as deceptively simple yet powerful as a barcode. For businesses that manufacture, package, or sell ...

Daniel Liberto is a journalist with over 10 years of experience working with publications such as the Financial Times, The Independent, and Investors Chronicle. Dr. JeFreda R. Brown is a financial ...

Beep. That’s the sound heard over 10 billion times a day around the world. The barcode, an unassuming symbol formed from black and white lines and spaces, has become a fixture in global commerce, ...

The concept of the barcode — an alphabet made up of thick and thin bars — came into being in the 1950s. It took another quarter of a century for one to be printed on product packaging and scanned.

Ed. Note: This article was previously posted at Retail TouchPoints. It’s hard to believe that the invention of the UPC—first used by railroads almost 100 years ago and then introduced to speed grocery ...