How to make barcodes for a small business: internal labels vs. retail barcodes

If you want to make barcodes for a small business, first decide what the barcode is for. A barcode that goes on a product you sell in someone else’s shop has to be registered. A barcode that only your team scans, on a shelf, a box or a spare part, can be anything you print yourself, today.

Most small teams only need the second kind. They want to find stock faster, count it with fewer mistakes, and stop typing item names into a spreadsheet. This guide explains the difference, helps you choose, and walks through setting up labels that your team will actually scan.

Two kinds of barcode, two different jobs

A barcode is just a way to write a code that a camera or scanner can read quickly. What matters is who needs to understand that code.

• Retail barcodes identify a product for the whole world. A shop’s checkout, a marketplace warehouse or a distributor scans it and looks the code up in their own system. For that to work, every code must be unique globally, so it is issued, not invented.
• Internal labels identify something for your team only. The code means “this bin of packing tape” or “the projector in meeting room B”, and only your own inventory system needs to know that.

Mixing the two up is the most common mistake. Teams buy retail codes they never needed, or they print homemade numbers onto products that a retailer will reject at the door.

When you need a retail barcode

You need a registered retail barcode when a product you make or pack will be sold through someone else’s checkout or listed with a retailer or marketplace that asks for one.

These codes are known as GTINs. Depending on the region and the use, you will see them as EAN or UPC codes. They are not generated by a tool on your computer. You get them by joining your national GS1 organisation, the standards body that issues company prefixes, and then assigning a code to each product variant you sell. A different size or colour usually means a different code.

Once you have your codes, you can print them onto packaging or labels with any design or label software that supports the format. The important part is the registration, not the printing.

If you do not sell physical products through retail channels, you can skip this section entirely. Registered barcodes do nothing for tracking your own supplies.

When an internal label is all you need

For almost everything that happens inside your walls, your own labels are enough. Common examples:

• Supplies you use up: gloves, cleaning products, printer paper, packing tape
• Materials on a workshop or studio shelf: paint tubes, fabric rolls, screws
• Equipment you lend out or move around: laptops, projectors, tools
• Storage places themselves: a shelf, a bin, a room, a van

Nobody outside your team will scan these codes, so there is nothing to register and no fee per code. The label only has to point to the right record in whatever system you use to track stock.

QR codes or classic barcodes for internal labels?

For labels you make yourself, you can choose between a classic one-dimensional barcode (the familiar vertical lines) and a two-dimensional code such as a QR code. Here is how they compare for internal use.

	Classic 1D barcode	QR code
Scanned by a phone camera	Yes, but it prefers good light and a straight angle	Yes, easily, from most angles
Survives a scratch or smudge	Less forgiving	More forgiving, thanks to built-in error correction
Label size	Wide and short	Small and square, fits on bins and shelf edges
Can hold a web link	Not in practice	Yes, so a scan can open the record directly
Needed for retail checkout	Often yes (EAN, UPC)	Not used for this

For internal labels, a QR code is usually the easier choice. It prints small, scans from a phone without lining up carefully, and can open the item’s page straight away.

How to make barcodes for your small business, step by step

Whether you choose QR codes or classic barcodes, the setup follows the same order. Doing it in this order saves you from printing labels twice.

1. List what you want to track. Start with the things you count or run out of most often, not everything you own.
2. Decide what gets a label. Some teams label each item. Others label each shelf or box and scan that to see what is inside. Many do both.
3. Check for existing barcodes. Products you buy often already carry a manufacturer’s barcode. You can use those as they are (see the next section).
4. Set up the records first. Create each item and storage place in your inventory system before printing, so every label points to something real.
5. Print a small batch and test it. Scan a few labels with the phones your team actually uses, in the light where the labels will live.
6. Stick labels where people look. Shelf edges and the front of bins work better than the back of a box.
7. Agree on the habit. Decide when people scan: when they take something, when they restock, and during a stock count.

The last step matters most. A label nobody scans is decoration.

Use the barcodes that are already on your stock

Many things you buy arrive with a barcode printed on them by the manufacturer. You do not need to cover it with your own label. If your inventory system can read that barcode and link it to one of your items, scanning the box opens the right record.

This works well for consumables you reorder often, like cleaning products or printer ink. It works less well for items that come loose, without packaging, or where several different things share one box. For those, label the shelf or bin instead.

One caution: a manufacturer’s barcode identifies a product, not a specific unit. If you need to tell two identical laptops apart, give each its own internal label.

Printing labels that last

You do not need special equipment to start. An office printer and sheets of adhesive labels are enough for most teams. A dedicated label printer is worth it once you print often or need labels in odd sizes.

A few practical points:

• Match the label to the place. Paper labels are fine on a dry office shelf. Cold rooms, workshops and vans call for tougher, water-resistant label stock or a clear cover.
• Leave white space around the code. Scanners and cameras need a quiet margin to find the edges.
• Keep a readable name next to the code. People should know what the label is for without scanning it.
• Replace damaged labels early. A label that fails once gets ignored afterwards.

When a barcode system is more than you need

Barcodes are not always worth it. If you track a handful of items, one person manages them, and counts rarely go wrong, a simple list may serve you perfectly well.

Labels start paying off when several people take from the same stock, when items look alike, when you keep things in more than one place, or when counts are regularly off. That is when “scan it” beats “find it in the list and type the number”.

Where Tana fits

Tana is a shared inventory app for teams, and it covers the internal-label side of this guide.

• QR labels from the web app. Print a sheet of QR labels for your items or your storages (shelves, boxes, rooms, vehicles). The sheet follows your current search or filter, so you can print only what you need.
• Scan to open. Scanning a label with the iPhone or iPad camera, or with your browser’s camera in the web app, opens that item or storage so you can record stock on the spot. If someone outside your team scans a label, they see the name but not your stock quantities.
• Manufacturer barcodes. Attach a product’s existing barcode to an item, and scanning the product opens it. Tana reads common formats such as EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC, Code 128, Code 39 and QR codes; the iPhone and iPad app also reads formats such as Data Matrix, ITF-14 and PDF417.
• One-tap updates. Use − and + as stock goes out and comes in, or set an exact counted number during a stocktake. Everyone on the team sees the same live numbers, and the history shows who changed what, and when.
• Low-stock alerts. Set a threshold per item and get told when it runs low.

Tana does not issue or register retail barcodes. If you sell through retailers, you still get those from your GS1 organisation. Tana has a free plan with no card required, and it runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac and in the browser on any computer.

Frequently asked questions

Can I make my own barcodes for free?

Yes, for internal use. Labels that only your team scans can be generated and printed yourself at no cost per code. Barcodes for products sold in shops are different: they must be registered through your national GS1 organisation.

Do I need a GS1 barcode to track my own inventory?

No. Registered barcodes are for identifying products across retailers and distributors. To track your own supplies, equipment or materials, internal labels such as QR codes are enough.

Do I need a barcode scanner, or can I use a phone?

A phone or tablet camera is enough for most small teams, especially with QR codes. A dedicated scanner can help when one person scans large amounts all day.

Should I label each item or each shelf?

It depends on how you work. Label items when each one is distinct or moves around. Label shelves or bins when many small things live together and you mostly want to see and update what is in one place.

Can I use the barcode that is already on a product?

Yes, if your inventory system can read it and link it to an item. It saves printing and works best for packaged goods you buy again and again.