The product barcodes on retail product packaging are internationally applicable, and most of them consist of 13 digits.

Prefix codes are commonly known as "country or region codes". The prefix codes in my country are 690-693, and the prefix codes in Taiwan and Hong Kong are 471 and 489 respectively. The prefix code only represents the registration place of the product barcode, but does not represent the place of origin of the product. No two manufacturers in the world can have the same manufacturer identification code. Commodity item codes are assigned different numbers by manufacturers according to product varieties, trademarks, specifications and quantities of internal goods, and packaging types. They are generally compiled according to sequence numbers and have no specific meaning.

The product barcode is equivalent to the "ID card" of the product. Tens of thousands of products in hypermarkets can be easily distinguished by using their respective product barcodes. The barcode number itself does not contain price information for the product. So why does the cashier just scan the barcode and the price of the product is immediately displayed on the cash register screen? This is because the backend computer finds the preset product name, price and other information based on the barcode number, and displays it on the cash register screen.

The use of product barcodes has greatly improved the supermarket's settlement speed and reduced errors, thereby increasing work efficiency and improving inventory. It can be said that without barcodes, there would be no modern supermarket chains.