The date is a scanning target, not a switch
Sunrise 2027 is GS1's program asking retailers to scan 2D barcodes at checkout by the end of 2027. It is an industry program, not a statute. A brand that sells through major retail should still treat it as a packaging deadline. Art, plates, and warehouse inventory do not flip over on the first of January.
Work backwards from the print date
A pack that will still be on shelf in 2027 was often designed and printed well before that year. If the next run of a high-volume SKU is this year, that file is the one that should carry the 2D code. Waiting for a single redesign after 2027 means another year of packs that only have a linear barcode, and a rush when a retailer asks for the new mark on a calendar you no longer control.
What has to be true before art is released
- Each sellable unit has a GTIN you trust, the same one retail already uses.
- The 2D code is a GS1 Digital Link, not a campaign URL, on a domain you will still own.
- The linear UPC stays for lanes that cannot read 2D yet. See both marks on one pack.
- A named person can change the page a phone opens, without a reprint.
- The first SKUs come from the real print calendar, not from a slide.
A program across print cycles
Nothing requires every SKU to change in one season. The first cycle covers the items that will still be in market when retailers are scanning 2D, and the items a buyer has already asked about. Later cycles pick up the rest. Destinations can start as a plain product page and get more specific after the code is on the pack. The printed link does not have to be reprinted for that.
Who should be in the first conversation
Packaging, the people who own the product identifiers, and whoever publishes the site all have a piece of this. One of them has to be able to put the other two on a single plan. Who should own the link is the usual sticking point. Resolve2D does that plan: the identifier map, the Digital Link, and the destinations. We do not sell barcodes, and we do not replace your ERP.