This post may contain affiliate links, which means that we get commissions for purchases made through such links, at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
There are many things you can do with a barcode scanner. Our team of experts have put this post together to share our knowledge on the applications of barcode scanners. If you want to know the things you can do with a barcode scanner, you have come to the right place.
What can I do with a barcode scanner? The basic thing you can do with a barcode scanner is to read barcodes. But the reading of barcodes has many applications, including facilitating checkout processes and inventory management. You can use barcode scanners in your retail store, factory, or large warehouse to track your products, stock levels, and prices, among other things. They will give you reliable data, streamline your operations, improve your customer experience, and can offer a formidable security measure, among other things.
If you run a business of any sort, a barcode scanner will make a lot of things easier for you. Barcode scanners can save you lots of time, energy, and money. Read on to learn about the many used of barcode scanners.
What Are The Uses of Barcode Scanners?
You can use barcode scanners to identify and track products, manage inventory and track assets, manage logistics, facilitate auditing, and access management. Their uses cut across the retail industry, corporate offices, logistics industry, and security environments. All facets of business can benefit directly or indirectly from the use of barcode scanners.
Barcode scanners are just one of the devices you need to operate the barcode technology. This means that you can’t use barcode scanners alone. To do anything reasonable with a barcode scanner, you also need a computer to host the database, the barcodes printed on labels or products, and the barcode scanners to read the barcode, decode its information, and transmit it to the computer.
Barcode scanners, when used as a component of a good barcode system, are accurate and have many uses across several industries. As you read on, we will show you what you can use barcode scanners to do in these different industries.
Industries That Use Barcode Scanners
Retail Businesses
Starting from how products reach the store from the factory, you can use the barcode system to track the location and destination of each item. Once you scan the barcode on the products, it sorts them according to their destination. It can also update the location of the items to the database.
In the store, you can track and manage the products using barcodes. What’s more, you can use barcode scanners at your cashier desk to facilitate checkouts. All facets of retailing will benefit from the use of barcode scanners.
Corporate Offices
Every corporate office needs an effective way to track assets internally. Barcode scanning meets this need and makes it simpler. That’s why every corporate office should integrate barcode scanning into their asset tracking system. It will become incredibly easier to track capital items and other office equipment, such as laptops and other movable equipment. What’s more, corporate businesses can also use barcode scanning to facilitate their auditing process.
Logistics and Inventory Management
You can use barcode scanners to log products and keep track of your inventory with a negligible error margin. When you integrate the barcode system, your logistics and inventory management process will be practically mistake-free. The accuracy of this technology is trustworthy and you immediately tell that any missing item that your barcode inventory system cannot account for was probably stolen.
You can run your logistics reports easily from barcode scans. This will make tracking and reporting quicker and more efficient.
Processing Orders and Delivering Products
Since customers are always right, businesses have to bear the brunt for mistakes in fulfilling the customer’s orders. This becomes a bigger problem when the product is non-returnable. Barcode scanners can help you avoid human errors while processing customers’ orders and making deliveries. They drastically reduce your error margin by eliminating finger slips and other possible mistakes.
Security and Access Management
You can also use barcode scanners for managing security issues. If you are managing people in a high-risk security environment, barcode scanning can become a vital tool to ensure that strangers can gain access to the premises. You only have to make security cards with unique barcodes for each authorized person. A barcode scanner at the point of entry scans these barcodes as each person passes the door, gives them access to the premises, and records their entry.
This means that people who don’t have an access card cannot gain entrance into the premises. This facilitates better security and helps secure people and property from strangers.
What Type of Barcode Scanner Should You Use?
Cashiers who use scanners standing at a desk or checkout station should use wired barcode readers. They are cheaper than wireless scanners, and they are suitable for stationary operations. Wireless scanners are more expensive, but they are a better choice for mobile operations where you’ll not be staying close to the computer always. Ultimately, the type of scanner you should use depends on your business operations.
Cordless scanners are also more suitable for businesses that deal with heavy or large items. It may be difficult to bring every product to the checkout station, but you can take the scanner to each product. This will save you and your staff the stress of lifting or moving heavy objects around before getting at their barcodes.
Should I Use A 1D or 2D Scanner?
You should use a 1D scanner for conventional linear barcodes. A 1D scanner can read linear barcodes quickly and accurately. But if you need to scan QR codes or other types of 2D barcodes, you need a 2D area barcode scanner.
What’s more, 2D scanners allow you to send emailed receipts to your customers. This makes them a better choice if you are serving the digitally-oriented younger generation. 2D scanners can also read QR codes from screens, so your customers can present QR codes from their smartphone screens. And you can also do mobile marketing for sales and promotions.
What Are The Benefits of Barcode Scanners?
Barcode scanners help streamline many processes across diverse industries. They make these processes easier and faster. They also help business owners reduce error margins and save money. Having barcode scanners and maximizing them will give your business a competitive advantage among others in the industry.
The benefits of using barcode scanners include the following:
Easy Implementation
Barcode scanners are easy to set up and simple to operate. They require no driver or software installation for them to work with your computer. You don’t need to have any knowledge of programming or technical expertise to implement a barcode system for your business.
This means that with little to no training whatsoever, you and your employees can use barcode scanners. What’s more, many models of barcode scanners feature wireless capabilities. So they are portable and easy to carry around for mobile operations even out of your store.
Reduced Error Margins
Barcode scanners reduce error margins by eliminating human mistakes that may occur as a result of manual data entry. Rather than use the manual approach, your staff only has to scan the barcode. And the scanner will transmit accurate information into your database.
✅ Video – ScanStar: Benefits of Barcode Scanning Part 1
This is the first part of a comprehensive webinar on the benefits of using barcode scanners. Hear from the RightStar Technologies experts, Brett Winston and Ron Hill on why you should implement a barcode system for your business.
Time-Saving
Manual data entry takes a lot of time. But when you use a scanner, a single click will enter all the data in a matter of milliseconds. Some scanners can scan as many as 400 times in one second. They can upload vast amounts of data in record time.
What’s more, they make your transactions faster, thus improving customer experience and promoting their satisfaction. Barcode scanners can also generate real-time inventory cycle counts.
Requires Fewer Supplies
Once you start using a barcode inventory system, you will buy fewer pens, use fewer papers, and consume fewer printing supplies. This is because scanners save and upload all information digitally. More so, when you want to change product prices, all you have to do is adjust the price electronically, you do not have to print new price labels for each product.
Real-Time, Rich Database
Barcode scanners upload real-time data. Even if you use a wireless scanner outside its transmission range, the scanner stores the barcodes and uploads them as soon as the scanner is within range. You will not experience any unnecessary delay when you use a quality barcode scanner.
Since barcode scanners upload data immediately, it means real-time data is always readily available. And each time you check your database, you have an up-to-date, rich data history.
✅ Video – ScanStar: Benefits of Barcode Scanning Part 2
This is the second part of the comprehensive webinar you watched earlier. Hear more from the RightStar Technologies experts, Brett Winston and Ron Hill on why you should implement a barcode system for your business.
Related Questions
What Happens When A Barcode Is Scanned?
When you scan a barcode, the scanner illuminates the barcode with its special red light and reads its white and black elements. It then decodes the “code” by converting it to alphanumeric text. The scanner has a sensor that detects light reflected from the codes. This sensor generates and transmits a signal to the barcode decoder and from there to the computer.
The decoder, upon receiving the signal, interprets it and validates the code. Then it converts the code into text and sends it to the database on your computer. This database may contain information, such as the product’s manufacturer, price, and quantity.
Do I Need Software To Use A Barcode Scanner?
You don’t need any software program or application to use barcode scanners. They function accurately without the need to install any special driver on your computer. A barcode scanner works just like a mouse or keyboard when you connect it to your computer.
Barcode scanners are general input devices and your computer will immediately recognize a barcode scanner once it’s connected. The mode of connection depends on the type of scanner you’re using. Wired scanners have USB cords while 2.4 GHz scanners have a USB decoder that you can plug into your computer while the scanner operates wirelessly. Bluetooth scanners as their name imply use Bluetooth connectivity.
Can I Use My Phone As A Barcode Scanner?
Yes, you can use your Android phone as a barcode scanner but you may have to first download an app to make that possible. iPhone cameras are equipped with the ability to scan barcodes as a quick way to access certain links. But they can’t work as scanners for your business applications except you download a special app (sometimes for free) from the App store.
Once you installed a barcode scanning application on your phone, you can use its camera to scan both 1D and 2D barcodes. Note that you may also have to download a sister app on your computer to facilitate your phone barcode system’s connection to the computer.
Conclusion
As you have seen, barcode scanners have many uses and benefits. They are cost-effective solutions for logistics and inventory management, security and access management, retail businesses, and corporate offices, among others. They will help improve the overall operations of your business.
When you use barcode scanners and maximize them in your business, you will accomplish more tasks and spend less time with just little human input. What’s more, barcode scanners are very accurate. Barcode scanners have many more applications than we can possibly list in this post. But we can assure you that it would make good sense to integrate barcode scanning into your day-to-day business operations.
