SAN ANTONIO — With the GS1 DataBar slated to appear unaccompanied on coupons in North America beginning next January, there is still some uncertainty as to whether food retailers will be ready for the change.
To assess whether enough retailers' POS systems will be able to scan and process the DataBar (expanded version) on coupons in 2011, the Joint Industry Coupon Committee (JICC) is expected to launch a new survey of the retail community this week that will continue for 45 days.
“This is our last opportunity to gauge retailers' readiness. Hopefully, most will be ready [to scan the DataBar],” said Alan Williams, co-chair of the JICC and vice president of applications development, Ahold USA, during a presentation earlier this month at U Connect 2010, sponsored by GS1 US and VICS. The JICC conducted a similar survey in January but did not draw enough responses to come to any conclusions about industry readiness.
The JICC includes representatives from Grocery Manufacturers Association, Food Marketing Institute, National Grocers Association and National Association of Chain Drug Stores, as well as individuals from retailers and manufacturers who oversee coupon programs.
Last year, a JICC industry survey revealed that not enough retailers would be ready to process the DataBar on coupons by Jan. 1, 2010, the original “sunrise date” established for the unveiling DataBar-only coupons. As a result, the sunrise date was delayed until Jan 1, 2011. Asked whether the JICC would consider delaying the sunrise date again if the new survey uncovers a continuing lack of readiness, Williams said, “That will be up to the JICC group to determine in consultation with the various associations like FMI, NGA, NACDS, NACS and GMA.”
Since early 2008, the DataBar has appeared on manufacturer coupons alongside of the traditional UPC-A bar code to give coupon clearinghouses a chance to adjust to the new bar code.
To be able to accommodate the DataBar on coupons, retailers need to ensure that various POS technology is DataBar-enabled, including scanner hardware, POS software and the POS transaction log. Retailers who are unable to scan the DataBar when it appears by itself on coupons will be left to manually keying in coupon values at the POS.
While the latest assessment of retailers takes place, manufacturers are preparing to drop the UPC-A bar code on coupons and use only the GS1 DataBar, beginning in January and continuing through June 2011. The DataBar contains up to 70 digits of information, allowing manufacturers to include expiration date, more complex offers, various coupon values, better validation and other data currently not contained in the UPC-A code.
As further preparation for DataBar-only coupons, GS1 US, Lawrenceville, N.J., the bar code standards group, is testing the quality of coupon printing at Ohio State University. Test are being conducted of various symbol sizes on various papers (newsprint, coated bleached newsprint, inkjet paper and card stock).
At least two major retailers — Kroger and Target — expect to be ready for DataBar-only coupons in 2011, according to company executives who discussed their plans at the U Connect Conference.
At the end of May, Kroger, Cincinnati, implemented coupon DataBar scanning and processing at two divisions — its Smith's division in Utah and its Cincinnati division — encompassing about 230 stores, said Greg Menz, IT-senior director. Kroger expects to be fully implemented across all divisions by the end of September, he said.
To scan the coupon DataBar, Kroger enhanced its POS system (the IBM ACE) and changed its POS transaction log to capture the DataBar coupon identifier (8110).
“No problems are being reported by the stores,” Menz said, although only about 6% of DataBars are actually being scanned. The reason for the low percentage is that cashiers are not being trained to scan the DataBar rather than the UPC-A code; they can scan either. In January that will become moot as the UPC-A begins to disappear. “It's not worth training cashiers now,” Menz said.
Kroger expects the DataBar to help deter coupon fraud because it contains an offer code, said Menz. The DataBar will also help lead to electronic clearing of coupons. But he is looking for an improvement in the “human-readable” information on the coupon so that information can be captured when the DataBar can't be scanned.
Target, Minneapolis, which operates 252 SuperTarget outlets and 300 stores with an expanded food selection, along with 1,300 general merchandise stores with some food, is already capable of scanning the coupon DataBar chainwide, said Joe Spreitzer, Target's senior manager, supply chain technology.
However, Target still needs to adjust its software to process complex coupon offers such as buy-two, get-one-free, he said. In addition, legacy flatbed scanners and registers at between 300 and 500 stores are not updatable, and handheld scanners need to be used there. The company has added an expiration date validation (to allow flexibility with expiration dates) and a value limit check to prevent mis-keys of coupon values.
