Loftware has a suite of tools for the entire supply chain organization around label management, artwork management, and resolver functions for connected packaging. Right now, there is a lot of excitement in the marketplace around Sunrise 2027. It's growing in excitement, enthusiasm, but there's still a need for the governance compliance aspect of it. They're starting to adopt the GS1 standard and move into the GS1 digital link.
It allows them to bring that compliance together into that standard. A lot of our customers are multi-brand, and so the challenge they have is they're trying to standardize on single solutions. They want to have one label management system, one resolver engine, one aspect of compliance and governance. Loftware allows them to have a single platform, single vendor, single source to implement these standards across their entire ecosystem.
The beauty of the GS1 Digital Link is it allows you to start early and simply and increase your complexity over time.
GS1 Sunrise 2027 is the GS1 goal for retail checkout scanners to read two-dimensional (2D) barcodes, such as Quick Response (QR) codes with GS1 Digital Link and GS1 DataMatrix codes, by the end of 2027. It applies to consumer products scanned at retail point of sale. It is a gradual transition that adds 2D barcodes alongside the one-dimensional (1D) Universal Product Code (UPC), not a deadline for removing the UPC.
For consumer packaged goods (CPG) and food manufacturers, the practical questions are what changes on the package, what stays the same, and whether the new code can do more than ring up a sale. This page answers those questions. For how the same code keeps supply chain information current after a product ships, see GS1 Digital Link compliance.
GS1 Sunrise 2027 is a readiness goal for retailers' checkout systems, and it centers on the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), the product number a checkout scanner looks up to ring up an item. GS1's implementation guideline for 2D barcodes at retail point of sale, ratified in December 2025, states that "the initial goal is for retail point-of-sale (POS) scanning to be globally capable of reading and processing the GTIN from both existing linear and 2D barcodes by the end of 2027."
The goal is about what scanners can read, not about removing anything from the package. A scanner that meets it reads the GTIN from either barcode, so a product can carry both while retailers upgrade at different speeds. GS1 US describes Sunrise 2027 as a transition from 1D UPC barcodes to 2D barcodes and frames adoption as crawl, walk, and run phases: basic implementation first, then putting the added data to work in business processes, then using the full capability of 2D.
A UPC holds one piece of information, the GTIN. A 2D barcode approved for retail can carry the GTIN plus other GS1 data, such as the batch or lot number and the expiry date, which supports traceability. Retailers gain product data at the moment of sale, and manufacturers gain a code that can also connect shoppers, store teams, and regulators to online information through GS1 Digital Link.
GS1's guideline approves three 2D barcodes for retail point of sale:
Scanner capability varies. GS1 notes that "all camera-based scanners have functionality to scan and read 2D barcodes," but "it is the retailer's choice to enable or disable that functionality," and only newer or recently upgraded models can read QR codes or Data Matrix barcodes with GS1 Digital Link URI syntax according to GS1's support portal. That gap is one reason the UPC stays on pack during the transition.
Yes, during the transition. GS1's guideline says that during migration, products carry both their current linear barcode, such as the UPC, and one of the approved 2D barcodes. The guideline also sets the exit condition: products with a 2D barcode keep a linear barcode until 90% of point of sale scanning solutions can read GS1 compliant 2D barcodes and capture at least the GTIN. The UPC keeps every product scannable at retailers that have not enabled 2D yet, and the 2D code gives upgraded scanners access to the added data.
For a manufacturer, adding the 2D code is a change to the label or packaging artwork, not a change to the product data. The GTIN is already assigned, and lot and expiry data usually already exist in production systems. Where barcodes print on labels at the plant, the 2D code is a new element in the label template. Where barcodes are part of printed packaging, it goes through the packaging artwork approval process, which Loftware artwork management is built to manage.
GS1 Sunrise 2027 applies to products scanned at retail checkout, which makes it mainly a concern for CPG and food manufacturers and for retailers' own private-label products. Other labeling contexts use GS1 standards for different reasons and follow their own requirements:
| Labeling context | Does Sunrise 2027 apply? | What drives the labeling instead |
|---|---|---|
| Food, beverage, household, and personal care products scanned at retail checkout | Yes | Retailer readiness to scan 2D barcodes at checkout |
| Retailer private-label and in-store labeled products | Yes, retailers add 2D barcodes to their own products | Retailer 2D migration plans |
| Cases and pallets moving through warehouses and distribution | No | Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC) shipping labels and trading partner requirements |
| Pharmaceutical packaging for serialization | No | Drug serialization rules in the U.S. and the European Union (EU) |
| Automotive and industrial parts | No | Customer and industry labeling requirements |
A pharmaceutical clean room, an automotive assembly line, or a warehouse receiving dock is outside the scope of Sunrise 2027. GS1 Digital Link still has uses in those settings, from electronic instructions for use on a medical product to pallet identity at receiving, and the pillar page covers how GS1 Digital Link applies in each industry.
GS1 US lists the steps it expects brands to take for Sunrise 2027: add 2D barcodes to existing packaging, align QR codes with the GS1 Digital Link standard, include the GTIN in every 2D implementation, and use the extra capacity for data such as variants and dates. None of these steps requires removing the UPC, and GS1 US has said it is not necessary to have every 2D capability in place by 2027. Individual retailers can still set their own timelines for suppliers, so check the 2D requirements of each major customer
The crawl phase can start small: one GS1-compliant 2D code, carrying the GTIN, added to the packaging of one product line alongside the UPC. That first step confirms the code prints and scans reliably before it reaches every product line and every site that prints labels or packaging.
A QR code with GS1 Digital Link holds the GTIN, lot, and expiry date together, and a dynamic version of that code lets the manufacturer change what a scan returns without reprinting the package. During a recall, for example, anyone who scans the affected lot, from a store associate to a shopper at home, can be sent to the recall notice instead of the product page. Because the code sits on the consumer package, shoppers scan it too, which gives the brand a direct line to the people who bought the product. The code that meets the retailer's checkout requirement can then also carry supply chain information, which is covered in Dynamic QR codes for supply chain labels. For the food and beverage view, see What every food and beverage executive needs to know about GS1 Digital Link.
Not sure where your labeling operation stands today? Take the Labeling Maturity Assessment.
As a GS1 US Solution Partner, Loftware provides templates and QR code generation inside existing label workflows, so a 2D code prints from the same governed product data as the UPC beside it. Loftware Digital Link, a GS1 Digital Link resolver, builds each code's web address in GS1 Digital Link URI syntax and manages where the code points after printing, by geography, language, date, or time. The brand owner controls those destinations; partners and shoppers who scan the code cannot change them.
If your labels already run on Loftware Cloud Enterprise, adding a GS1 Digital Link QR code managed by Loftware Digital Link is a template change, not a new infrastructure build. If labels are still managed site by site, Loftware Cloud is the place to start.
