For fifty years, the humble UPC barcode has done one job: identify a product at checkout. It carries no batch, no expiry date and no link to anything a shopper could use. Meanwhile, brands have added separate QR codes to packs for promotions, recipes and sustainability claims, each pointing to a different campaign site and measured in a different tool. The result is a fragmented view of the customer journey once a product leaves the shelf.
Sunrise 2027, the industry initiative led by GS1 US, aims to change this by getting retail point-of-sale systems ready to scan 2D barcodes by the end of 2027. Combined with the GS1 Digital Link standard, a single QR code can work at the till, in the warehouse and on a consumer’s phone. For teams responsible for customer journey monitoring, that is a significant shift: the package itself becomes a measurable, updatable touchpoint. This article explains what is changing, how the technology works, and how to build journey analytics around it responsibly.
What Sunrise 2027 Is, and Is Not
Sunrise 2027 is a readiness target, not a ban on the UPC. In a GS1 US-sponsored NACS article from October 2026, a GS1 US standards director described it as “a sunrise, not a sunset,” and the same piece notes that 2D codes are expected to appear alongside UPCs until retailer readiness to read them reaches roughly 90 to 95 percent. Packaging Digest’s coverage quotes GS1 US describing the initiative as a technology modernization that brand owners increasingly treat as a reality even though it is not a legal mandate, and it names early movers such as PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Puma that have been adopting Digital Link step by step.
The practical implications are straightforward:
- Retailers need scanners and POS software that can read 2D symbols, such as QR codes with GS1 Digital Link syntax and GS1 DataMatrix, and pass the extra data to downstream systems.
- Brands need packaging artwork, printing and data management that can produce valid 2D codes and maintain the online destinations they point to.
- Both need data models that can store batch, expiry and serial information rather than only a GTIN.
How GS1 Digital Link Works
GS1 Digital Link is a standard way of expressing GS1 identifiers, such as the GTIN, together with optional attributes like batch or lot, serial number and expiry date, as a web address. Encoded in a QR code, that address can be read in two ways. A retail scanner parses it to extract the GTIN and attributes for pricing, inventory and recall checks. A smartphone camera opens it as a link.
Resolvers and link types
The address points to a resolver, a service that returns the right destination for the context. According to GS1, a conformant resolver can return a set of link types associated with a product, and brand owners can update the content behind them without reprinting the code. One printed code can therefore lead to product information, usage instructions, certifications, recall notices or a loyalty experience, and retailers and third-party apps can look up their own information from the same code. The current GS1 standards include URI syntax version 1.5.0 from June 2024 and a conformant resolver standard released in February 2024.
Granularity
Because the code can include batch and expiry, the journey can become batch-aware. A shopper scanning a yogurt from a specific lot can be shown the correct best-before date, or a recall message if that lot is affected, while a different lot of the same product shows normal content.
Sunrise 2027 is often framed as a checkout upgrade, but its bigger impact is on the journey after checkout: one standard code that links store systems, the package and the shopper’s phone.
Why This Matters for Customer Journey Monitoring
Customer journey monitoring brings together signals from digital and physical touchpoints to understand how people discover, buy, use and repurchase products. Packaging has historically been a blind spot in that map. Digital Link changes the picture in several ways.
- Post-purchase visibility. Consumer scans show when and roughly where products are being used, which content shoppers seek, and which questions arise after purchase, all signals that traditional sales data cannot reveal.
- One code, one taxonomy. Instead of campaign-specific QR codes with inconsistent tracking, every scan is tied to a GTIN and potentially a batch, making analytics comparable across products, regions and time.
- Closed-loop recalls and safety. Retailers can block sale of affected lots at the till, and brands can show recall messages directly to consumers who scan affected products, as Packaging Digest notes.
- Fresher inventory decisions. When expiry dates are captured at checkout and receiving, retailers can link markdown and waste data to actual product age, which feeds back into the journey through better availability and freshness.
- Consented first-party relationships. A scan can invite a shopper into registration, warranty, loyalty or reorder flows, creating opted-in relationships that do not depend on third-party cookies.
Designing a Journey Data Architecture Around 2D Codes
To turn scans into insight, connect several systems that are often owned by different teams.
- Identity master data. A product information management system holds GTINs, batch structures and the link types each product should expose. This is the source of truth for what a code means.
- Code generation and printing. Packaging artwork and line printing systems produce codes with the correct syntax, including variable data such as batch and expiry where printers support it. Verification at the line catches unreadable or invalid codes.
- Resolver and experience layer. A resolver routes each scan to the right experience based on the identifier, attributes, language and context. Experiences can be web pages, app deep links or retailer-specific content.
- Event collection. Each consumer scan generates an event capturing the identifier, batch, timestamp, coarse location such as country or region, device type and the link type served. POS scans produce separate events in retail systems.
- Journey analytics. A data platform joins scan events with sales, loyalty, service and campaign data, using consented identifiers only where a shopper has logged in or opted in.
- Activation. Insights flow back to content teams, product managers, quality teams and CRM, for example by updating instructions that generate repeated support calls.
Privacy and Trust by Design
A package scan can reveal sensitive information about health, household composition or habits. Journey monitoring built on 2D codes must be designed so that shoppers feel the benefit and never feel watched.
- Treat anonymous scans as anonymous. Collect coarse location and device class, not precise GPS or persistent device fingerprints.
- Ask for consent before linking a scan to an identity, and explain the value exchange plainly, such as warranty registration or reorder reminders.
- Separate safety-critical content, such as recall notices, from marketing so that it is always shown regardless of consent choices.
- Apply data retention limits and aggregate reporting by default, especially for categories with health or age implications.
- Make sure that a scan works without an app and without forcing account creation.
A Readiness Playbook for Brands and Retailers
For brands
- Audit packaging to identify where multiple barcodes and QR codes can be consolidated into a single Digital Link code.
- Clean up product master data, especially GTIN hierarchies, batch and expiry practices.
- Select or build a GS1-conformant resolver and define standard link types for each product family.
- Pilot on a product line where post-purchase content is valuable, for example products with assembly, dosage or recipe content.
- Define journey metrics before launch: scan rate per unit sold, content engagement by link type, support deflection and consented registrations.
For retailers
- Inventory scanners and POS software and plan upgrades for 2D symbol reading through 2027.
- Extend POS, receiving and inventory data models to store batch and expiry where the code provides them.
- Implement recall blocking at the till based on batch-level data.
- Test with brand partners using GS1 test tools and agree on how scan data and journey insights will be shared.
- Connect expiry data to markdown and waste processes, and feed results into customer experience metrics such as on-shelf freshness.
Worked Example: A Household Appliance Brand
Consider a hypothetical brand that sells small kitchen appliances through major retailers and online marketplaces. Each box currently carries a UPC, a separate QR code for the user manual and a sticker with a serial number for warranty registration. Warranty registration rates are low, and customer support receives many calls about initial setup.
The brand replaces the separate codes with a single Digital Link QR code on each box that encodes the GTIN and serial number. At the till, compatible retailer scanners read the GTIN as before. When a customer scans with a phone, the resolver serves a setup guide specific to that model and, after the guide, an optional one-step warranty registration that pre-fills the serial number.
Journey analytics show which setup steps cause drop-offs, which regions scan most and how many customers register. The product team rewrites the guide for the step that generates the most support calls, and the support team tracks whether related call volumes decline. Over time, consented registrations allow the brand to send filter replacement reminders and safety notices to verified owners. Because the codes include serial numbers, the brand can target a safety notice precisely to affected units if needed, rather than issuing a broad alert.
The retailer side benefits too. A retail partner that has upgraded its scanners captures the serial number at checkout and stores it with the transaction, which simplifies returns and makes fraudulent returns of mismatched units easier to detect. The brand and retailer agree to share aggregated journey metrics, such as setup completion rates by store region, which helps the retailer train staff on the questions customers ask most. Neither party shares personal data with the other; each works with its own consented customers. The scorecard the two teams review each quarter includes scan rate per unit sold, setup completion, warranty registrations, support contacts per thousand units and return rates, giving both a shared view of the post-purchase journey that neither had before.
Pitfalls to Avoid and What Comes Next
Early adopters have run into a consistent set of problems. Most are organizational rather than technical, which means they can be avoided with planning.
- Codes that do not scan at the till. Invalid syntax, poor print contrast or a code placed on a curved or glossy surface will fail at checkout, and a failed scan at a busy lane is far more costly than a failed consumer scan. Verify every artwork change and test with retailer equipment.
- Campaign thinking. Treating the code as a temporary marketing asset leads to dead links once a campaign ends. The destination must be maintained for the life of the product in the market and beyond.
- Data that stops at the scanner. Upgrading scanners without extending POS and inventory systems to store batch and expiry captures none of the operational value.
- Siloed ownership. Packaging, IT, marketing, quality and legal each own part of the journey. Without a single owner for the code and its link types, content becomes inconsistent.
- Overcollection. Capturing precise location or persistent identifiers on anonymous scans creates privacy risk and regulatory exposure without proportionate benefit.
Looking ahead, several developments will make 2D codes even more central to journey monitoring. Retailer readiness will rise steadily through 2027, which allows brands to remove legacy UPCs in more categories over time. In Europe, the digital product passport requirements emerging under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation are expected to rely on data carriers on products, and many organizations see GS1 Digital Link as a natural fit. Generative AI assistants are also changing what a scan can deliver: instead of a static page, a scan can open a conversational guide that answers questions about the specific product and batch in the shopper’s language, while the underlying events still feed journey analytics. Teams that design their resolver, content and data architecture well now will be able to add these capabilities without reprinting a single package.
Conclusion
Sunrise 2027 is more than a scanner upgrade. By standardizing a single 2D code that works at checkout and on a phone, GS1 Digital Link turns packaging into an updatable, measurable touchpoint that fills one of the biggest gaps in customer journey monitoring: what happens after the sale. Brands and retailers that clean up product data, adopt a conformant resolver, design privacy-respecting scan experiences and connect scan events to their journey analytics now will be ready well before the transition is complete, and will gain insight their competitors cannot see.
How Hanoi Technology Can Help
Hanoi Technology helps brands and retailers connect 2D barcode scans, POS data and customer platforms into privacy-respecting journey analytics.