You may have heard of the Sunrise 2027 date regarding QR codes. Rather than this being the date whereby the EAN/UPC barcodes will suddenly disappear from retail products the world over, it is more the date that the retail industry anticipates having the ability to scan 2D barcodes at point of sale.
Current retail systems and scanners need updating to be able to utilise QR codes powered by GS1 and the additional data they encode. Manufacturers will also need to update printing capabilities in order to mark the new symbols in pack.
Whilst we anticipate that some will move faster to adopt 2D barcodes, there will still be the requirement to continue to use EAN/UPC barcodes for some stakeholders. What this means is there will be a period of transition where both symbols are appearing on pack until use of QR codes powered by GS1 becomes pervasive.