Big Box Barcode Challenges

Posted October 21, 2025

Barcodes are foundational to supply chain efficiency, product traceability and ultimately to customer satisfaction. Box box stores are particularly vulnerable to inconsistent barcode quality from suppliers. Supply chain and vendor compliance teams can be overwhelmed, ensuring that incoming products have scannable barcodes.

Standards are a Map, not the Journey

Big box companies have labeling standards that suppliers must comply with. Chargebacks and corrective actions for non-compliant shipments can help, but often it is a moving target. Seasonal inventory changes further complicate and pressure an already-intense situation. The retail establishment, including the big box store, is the last step in the supply chain.

Everyone has Challenges

Suppliers have their own issues with barcode quality and compliance. Some items are directly marked with the barcode—no package or label. Lumber is a particularly challenging example. Plastic parts such as electrical circuit breakers are another.

The supply chain is not a static “thing”; it’s a flow, a process, a sequence of events, linked and depending on each other. The barcode makes the supply chain work, it’s the connective tissue. Marking the product with its barcode is usually the final step after manufacturing. Naturally, but unfortunately, it is also the last thing anybody thinks about. An afterthought.

Consistently Inconsistent

Often, the enforcement of vendor standards for barcode quality and compliance is also an afterthought for the vendor. In the heat of the battle, sometimes the rules are neglected. Get the product shipped to the customer before it’s late—or later. Hope for the best that the barcodes work. The result is inconsistent barcode quality.

You Sometimes Get What You Enforce

From the standpoint of the retailer, you get what you enforce. Although it’s true, it can be a blunt instrument. From the supplier standpoint, sometimes they need more than enforcement. Sometimes they need help.

You Always Get What You Support

That’s where a third party can make an important difference. Our independence can be an asset for both the supplier as well as the retailer. We can resolve barcode problems and prevent future problems, and we can also clarify and, in some cases, correct a retailer’s supplier standards document.