The Digital Divide in DataBars

MICHAEL GARRY

THE GS1 DATABAR HAS become almost ubiquitous on paper coupons, but what about the growing number of digital coupons available online and on mobile phones?

“Digital coupon [bar-coding] standards for the industry are under development,” said Alan Williams, vice president of application development for Ahold USA, Landover, Md., and co-chair of the Joint Industry Coupon Committee.

Meanwhile, whether digital coupons use the traditional UPC-A bar code, the DataBar or something else depends on the manufacturer and its arrangements with the retailer, he said. They determine whether coupons use a “reference number” linked only to the retailer's coupon file (like store coupons, both paper and electronic) or use “self-defining” bar codes “where all the information is present in the bar code to validate the purchase and deliver the coupon-offer value.”