Almost everything that we see today is labeled or tagged. From
pictures on Facebook to the things bought at a supermarket, everything is
marked for identification. Mapping people or products stems from the need to
track them from their point of origin. One of the prime instances of tracking
can be found on bar codes. Those
series of line that we are so used to seeing around us have helped manufacturers,
retailers and business owners in general to easily store product data and then
locate the trail their products took when moving from one end to the other.
As products move faster than
ever to newer and multiple channels, the need to effectively track them has to
pace too.
QR codes and RF ID tags have surfaced as the new means of
storing, managing and tracking data faster and easily.
Bar-codes, QR codes, and RF ID are all means for carrying large amount of data in compact format. However,
there is distinction to be made in terms of the purpose they are used for and
the way they are used.
Bar codes
Bar-codes have been a common sight for decades now. It is most
commonly used on packaging at grocery stores, manufacturing units, and in
shipping products. Bar-codes have manifold applications – seeing how much you've sold, how much you have in stock, and how much you need to procure. Bar-codes are read through bar-code scanner. One can easily spot a bar-code scanner at your
nearest supermarket at the checkout point where salesmen use the scanner to
read bar-code labels printed on the products one buys.
Bar-codes are single
dimensional codes. Bar-codes represented by the bars are designed across
only one dimension, in this case horizontal. As such, the information that they
can hold is very limited. Primarily bar-codes are used as a means to track
product information. A linear bar-codes can read up to 24 characters at a time.
QR codes: Quick Response Codes
Although QR codes have been
around for years too, their usage has skyrocketed in recent years. One can
easily read a QR code through a bar-code scanner app installed on a Smartphone.
QR codes are now heavily used by marketers to lead users to a website for
special offers, first-hand information etc. A QR code is compact and can store
more data when compared to bar-codes. Moreover, QR code doesn't cost a thing
except when used in print media.
QR codes are two dimensional figures.
They are spread across horizontally as well as vertically, and
thus they have a square appearance in contrast to the single line rectangular
looking bars that bar-codes can easily be identified with.
The vertical and horizontal layouts of QR codes allow QR codes
to contain more information than a bar-code can possibly contain. In fact QR
codes can hold up to thousands of alphanumeric characters.
RF ID: Radio Frequency Identification
RF-ID or Radio Frequency
Identification too, has been in the market for some time now but their
application requires the user to have technological know-how. Application of RF-ID includes putting RF ID tags to
boxes, pallets etc. RF ID tags store, move and track vast quantities of data
faster and more efficiently when compared to bar-codes and QR codes. RF ID tags
possess both read and write capabilities. Information stored on RF ID tags can
be locked, changed, and updated. The small antenna in an RF ID tag gives out a
signal which is then picked up by a special wireless reader, transmitting
information from the tag to the object the RF ID tag is attached to.
RF ID tags will take some time
to catch up among small business including retailers and manufacturers. While RF ID may have more potential for storing and tracking data, bar-codes fit better
within small business owners’ budget and within their resources to implement them.
Bar-codes, QR codes, and RF ID though fundamentally function
similarly – store, manage and track data; are used under different
circumstances and with different objectives in mind.
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