GTIN (Global Trade Item Number)

What is a GTIN?

GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is the global standard for product identification. A GS1-issued GTIN is required by more retailers, including Costco, Home Depot, and Amazon. They can be printed on physical products, such as shirts, labels, and inventory stickers. And because it can be easily encoded into Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, they can be used to identify products and inventory records.

A GTIN is generated by a GS1 company prefix number, followed by an item reference, checksum, and other identifying information. Typically, the first three digits of a GTIN represent the GS1 country code. Using the GS1 country code, the product can be located in different locations. There are several classes of GTINs, including thirteen-digit, 12-digit, and fourteen-digit. The GS1 website explains the differences.

A GTIN can be a short form of a product’s UPC number or a full 14-digit unique identifier. The UPC is a 45-character code that is printed on products. The UPC is a 12-character number that contains a barcode label and is attached to a barcode label. A barcode reader is used to read the GTIN, which can be read by a device similar to the one used at checkout. In the case of retail, GTINs are essential data structures for catalogs. The format is often interchangeable with EAN and UPC codes.