From Barcodes to QR Codes: Why the Laundry Label Is Getting a Digital Makeover

Insights from Camilla Young, GS1 UK — Driving Digital in Label Printing Event 2026, Domino Printing UK

The humble barcode has had a remarkable run. Invented in the 1970s, it has survived the internet, the smartphone, and half a century of relentless digital transformation, quietly sitting on the side of every product you’ve ever bought. But its days as the primary identifier on packaging are numbered. At Domino Printing UK’s Driving Digital in Label Printing 2026 event, Camilla Young of GS1 UK made the case clearly, compellingly, and with a refreshing dose of candour, for why the industry needs to make the leap to QR codes, and fast.

Who Is GS1 UK, and Why Does It Matter?

If you’re not already familiar with GS1 UK, you’re probably still benefitting from its work every day. It’s a not-for-profit, membership-based organisation that sets the global standards for how we identify products, how that identification is captured, and how the data flows across the supply chain. The barcode number (GTIN), location numbers, asset numbers, data carriers like barcodes, QR codes, data matrix codes and RFID tags, and messaging standards like EPCIS, all of this falls under the GS1 umbrella. GS1 UK has 62,000 members in the UK alone, ranging from small businesses setting up their first product listings on Amazon, to household names like Tesco and Unilever. Globally, the organisation is a federation of more than 120 member organisations. As Camilla put it: ‘None of us operate in a bubble, we all need to share data and information passing through the system. That’s why we need to do this in a globally standardised way.’

The Issue With the Barcode

The barcode is, by modern standards, a remarkably limited data carrier. All it does is hold a single number. For decades, that was enough. But packaging has changed dramatically, and the barcode hasn’t kept up. Today’s packs are being asked to carry more information than ever before: allergen declarations, sustainability credentials, multilingual regulatory content, recycling instructions, competition mechanics, consumer engagement prompts, and an ever-growing list of compliance requirements driven by incoming regulation, from the EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The result, as Camilla described it, is a ‘crunch point’: there is simply no more space on pack, and yet more data is being demanded. The irony, she noted, is that the nutrition information and allergen declarations that are legally required are often now so small that consumers can’t actually read them. Something had to give.

Enter the GS1 Digital Link QR Code

A few years ago, GS1’s global membership came together and developed a new standard: the GS1 Digital Link, which powers a new generation of QR codes designed specifically for product packaging. This is not the same as the QR codes you scan at a restaurant or cinema. It is a structured, standardised format that embeds significantly more data, and enables an entirely new layer of functionality.

As you’d expect, at its core, the QR code contains a URL, but embedded within that URL are Application Identifiers: standardised data fields that carry the GTIN (so it functions exactly like the existing barcode at point of sale), as well as additional data such as batch numbers, unique serial numbers, and expiry dates. The latter three require variable or digital printing on-pack, which is where the opportunity, and also the challenge, for the print industry becomes very real. Once that data is encoded, it can be read in multiple ways: at the checkout scanner, via a consumer-facing app, or by connecting to a cloud-based resolver that can serve up dynamic, tailored content depending on who is scanning, where, and when.

The Use Cases Are Substantial

Camilla walked through a wide range of applications, and it’s worth dwelling on these a little more, because they go well beyond consumer-facing marketing:

For consumers: richer product information at the point of decision, allergens, nutritionals, provenance, recipe inspiration, sustainability credentials, and content served in the user’s own language, regardless of what’s printed on the pack. For visually impaired consumers, accessibility QR codes (pioneered by Unilever and others) can be picked up at a distance by AI-powered apps like Seeing AI, helping users navigate products before they’re close enough to read a label.

For retailers: the ability to scan batch numbers and expiry dates through the till changes the game for fresh produce. Currently, retailers know a GTIN was sold, but not which batch or which use-by date. With serialised QR codes, they can forecast more accurately, reduce markdowns, minimise waste, and automate date-checking on shelf. Camilla cited a pilot in Australia where this approach cut fresh food waste by 40%. Tesco is already scanning GS1 QR codes across their store estate and transitioning their own-label products. M&S has also publicly announced a similar programme.

For brand owners and supply chain managers: serialisation enables anti-counterfeiting, product authentication, targeted recalls (pulling only the affected batch rather than an entire SKU), returns management, and carbon footprint traceability. Amazon’s Transparency programme, which serialises every instance of a product, is already demonstrating what this looks like at scale.

For regulators: the Digital Product Passport framework and a raft of incoming regulations are demanding product-level traceability data that barcodes simply cannot carry. QR codes are the logical, and in many cases mandated, solution.

It’s Happening Now

This transition isn’t a distant future scenario. It is underway. As mentioned, Tesco is scanning QR codes at point of sale across their estate, with own-label products transitioning at pace and branded supplier engagement already under way. M&S is running its own programme. Numerous major UK retailers are now in conversation with GS1 about their roadmap.

That said, the timeline will vary significantly depending on the product type. Own-label ranges will move quickly. Branded products with long print runs and established packaging cycles will take longer, and there will be a period where both barcodes and QR codes need to coexist on pack for the benefit of independent retailers and smaller stores yet to upgrade their scanning infrastructure.

Talking Print

Camilla was direct about the implications for printers and label producers. A few key points stood out:

Print quality is non-negotiable. Poor print quality on a QR code doesn’t just create a consumer inconvenience, it slows checkout scanning, and at scale that becomes a measurable operational and cost problem for retailers. Substrate, contrast, colour, pixel integrity, white space, all this is crucial, and GS1’s published standards are the reference point.

Variable and digital printing is central to this transition. Encoding batch numbers, serial numbers, and expiry dates means every label instance may be unique. This fundamentally shifts requirements away from conventional printing for those product categories.

Governance and verification are critical. In the early days, Camilla’s team encountered QR codes in the field where the GTIN embedded in the QR code didn’t match the barcode on the same pack, a copy-paste error from one product to another. As more codes go directly from production line to shelf, verification workflows become an essential part of the process, not an optional quality check.

The design conversation needs to start now. Artwork teams and print partners need to understand the size requirements, white space rules, and colour contrast standards before the brief lands. For customers thinking about moving to dynamic or serialised codes in the future, that conversation needs to happen now, because it affects artwork design, print capability investment, and workflow architecture.

A Final Thought

The barcode has served us well for fifty years. But it was designed for a world that no longer exists. The combination of consumer demand for transparency, tightening global regulation, retailer appetite for smarter data, and the very real physical constraints of modern packaging has created the conditions for change, and the GS1 Digital Link QR code is the answer the industry has converged on. As Camilla put it: ‘It’s not going to be a quick transition. But it is happening.’ For anyone in the label printing, packaging, or brand owner space, the question is no longer whether to engage with this transition, it’s how and when.

Hear More From Camilla Young

Camilla Young will be speaking at two upcoming FuturePrint events:

FuturePrint PodFEST  |  25th & 26th June 2026

FuturePrint’s festival of ideas, conversations, and insight from across the print industry.

FuturePrint Packaging, Labels and DTS Conference — Valencia  |  29th & 30th September 2026

Our European event bringing together the best minds in packaging print, labels, and DTS printing. Camilla will be joining us in Valencia to continue the conversation about GS1 standards, the QR code transition, and what it all means for the supply chain.

Stay ahead of the transition. We’ll see you there.