Boost Your Brand: The Professional Edge of Product Barcodes in Nigeria

Hello and welcome to the show. I'm taking today's recording at my desk and it's a full house. My in laws are still here, so expect there to be some interruptions in the background. Now, if you're new to the podcasts, the goal of this show is free business education. So if that's the sort of thing you're looking for, you are in the right place. Just make sure to share, promote and talk about the podcast so that your friends and family members in Nigeria and abroad can benefit from the questions that we tackle.

They can do that by subscribing on Spotify, YouTube, Apple or any player of their choice and you in particular. If you have any sales or marketing questions by the time we're done, bring them to me. You can call, you can SMS, you can WhatsApp on 08064662140. Today on the show, I want us to look at something that I haven't spoken about before. And as a matter of fact, I haven't even heard about it on any podcast anywhere.

The reason why I came up was because somebody gave me a buzz a few weeks ago and it's like, hey bro, what's up now? I said I'm good. So, you know, you're the guy when it comes to business things. And I said, OK, no problem, let me see how I can help. And then the guy says, you know, me and wifey, it's our business, we're making progress, blah, blah, blah. I need to now put barcodes on the product. So how far was the 411?

How do we go about that? And for the first time in a very long time, I was absolutely stumped. I had no answer because back when I was younger and I used to dubble in writing, I did some research about how you get ISBN numbers for your book. Because if your book is going to be published, and hopefully I'm archived in one or two libraries and you know, if you're going to sell it and market it, it helps if you have an ISBN number.

That's the number with barcodes at the back of your book and you know, stuff like that. So it makes your book look real professional. And then of course, if your book is going to be kept in any library is going to be in the right section, you know, stuff like that. So ISBN numbers are a big deal if you're talking about publishing a book. But then it's skipped my mind that people who have to make products, you know, if you don't believe me, the next time anybody in your family gets ill and you buy drugs, you know,

just check out the back. You know, you see there all those black and white lines, the codes, the product codes, eventually, you know, so everybody who makes stuff, whether it's baby diapers or cough syrup or bathing soap or laundry soap or hand washing soap, or I mean, think about it, if it's sold in the market, it needs to have those numbers at the back of it. So for some reason I had never done research into those sorts of things, so I was stumped.

So I told the guy, oh, you know what? I know about ISBN numbers. I think it should be the same thing. Let me go and do some research. I'll get back to you. So anyway, I did my research. That's the good news. The bad news is I wasn't able to come up with much. But part of the good news is if you're in that space, at least I'm going to be able to give you some resources where you can continue the investigation further. Because I had assumed that for stuff that is that important,

you know, the barcodes at the back of your product, you know, you get your NAFTAC number, you get your SON number, you know, standard organization of Nigerian number, you get your, you know, all the number, number and license license that you need. I just assumed now when it comes to barcode, that barcode information will be plentiful. I thought there'll be too much information, but actually there's not enough information that is out there.

So at the end of this episode, please bear in mind that if you're able to do this research for your product and you're able to get barcodes, please, I'm begging if the information I've given here was useful, I beg, I give my WhatsApp number at the beginning and at the end of every episode. No, reach out, let me know everything was helpful. Let me know what more you discovered and let me know in detail the steps that you went through so I can make another podcast telling people that.

OK, since our last episode where I spoke about how to get your product barcode, at least now the podcast based in this doing this, doing that has been able to get a back code for the business. This is the step that he took or she took and you know, so we can provide the useful resource to people over here on the show. So essentially that's what we're talking about today. Product barcodes, how do you get them? Now? Of course, there's no need to define.

Abby, should I define it? OK, yeah, since traditionally I define everything, let me try and define. So product barcodes, any time you go to the supermarket and you buy something, you look at the back of the box. Usually at the back of the box you see some black lines. At the back of it black lines are white spaces. That's what the product code is. Now the whole point of the product code is you use it to identify each product.

So that's the reason why you know when you're paying the sales, the the person at the desk who is scanning the thing will take it and run it through the scanner. It will just make problem and then it will show up on the screen that you have bought, you know 12 bottles of soap, you know, 2 packet of cigar, let's see what else? 6 packets of biscuits and 48 rows of tissue paper. So nothing that you're scanning. Program, program, program.

That is the product code or the product barcodes. So they make it easy for machines to read and understand what product am I looking at? Now the good news is just like with the ISBN for publishing for those are the barcodes that you have at the back of your books. I mean just check whatever book you happen to be reading. Now look at the back, you see it, black lines and white spaces. So there's a global standard for this sort of thing.

And so that's good. So it means you don't have to go through the hassle of getting one for Niger and getting another for America or getting another for the UK. So if your product is going to be sold in Niger, in Cameroon, in the UK, in Australia, you are just going to get one number. And so that's good then what people use it for. People use it for the supermarket. They need it for inventory management. Because, you know, next time you go to the supermarket, just think about it.

Go to the tissue paper section, see all the different kinds of tissue paper, just tissue alone and soap. I mean, that's a nightmare if you have to manage and reconcile that thing, you know, by hand, you know, how many Princess tissue paper do we have? How many kitchen tissue paper do we have? How many, you know, on and on the different brands. The same thing with soap. How many locks do we have? How many bleaching soap do we have?

How many carrot soap do we have? Purpose soap, black soap, you know this soap, that soap so be a nightmare. So making all these things makes inventory management very easy for the supermarket. They're able to track stock levels. You know how much we have and in which location, you know, is it at the top of the shop? Is it at the back? Is it shelf B6 or is it shelf a 22? You know, all those kind of things. And the good news for you, dear listener, those of you who are in the business, like my friend and his wife who are doing the same thing, is because they're just simply scanning program,

program. All they have to do is just get to the computer and they can tell you exactly what's up. They can tell you, OK, boss, you came here in January. You gave us 45 cartoons or soap. I don't have 45 cartoon or soap. We've only been able to sell 22. The remaining 23 they are, you will find half of it on shelf be this and then the remaining half eye storage. So that kind of thing really, really helps. If you're the business owner and you have to go and talk to the people in the shop, you want to know exactly how far, like since I came in January, how much are the people sold those sorts of things.

So it makes your life a whole lot easier. So if nothing else, and of course, from the point of view of my friend and his wife, that's the main reason why I don't want to get this thing anyway, because if you don't do that, somebody has to go and do this thing. Manual. And of course, you know what manual means. Manual means. I went, I checked in the store. I think, I think, I think, and maybe we'll start quarreling. I know I came with 45 cartoons saying I usually was 45

cartoons, I think was more like 43. And then quarrel back and forth. You were looking at your diary. You, you have different records, this person, they have the current different records. You guys start to quarrel. How much do you owe me? How much am I owe you? What did I bring? What did I not bring? You know, it's just a nightmare. So if you're going to be in this kind of business like my friend and his wife, which just makes sense, if you can just get this code, it will save you a lot of stress.

So inventory management, that's the main reason why people do it. Stock levels, location, traceability for the business owner. Yes, traceability may be able to trace and know exactly where did I send 45 cartoons last month? Was it to dish shop or to dish shop? Where did I send 22 cartoons? Where did I send six cartoons? Where did I do this? Where did I do that? So it helps then for big supermarket chains, supply chain management, excuse me, supply chain management.

So those are OK. Well, I'll, I'll define, let me just say that the same thing. Sure. Inventory management is how much of what do we have in the shop, Supply chain management is how much do we need in the shop? How much inventory do we have to hold? When am I supposed to place the order to bring new ones here? And, and how based on the traffic we see in the shop, when am I expecting certain kinds of things to move out?

So all that is supply chain management. So for now, let's just say all join. Then the standard for getting your barcodes is called GS One capital G, capital S and then one as in Figure 1. Then that's the body that's responsible for these standards. And so if you want to get your barcode, essentially those are the people that you have to last with the GS1. And I'm wondering why did why did they come up with that kind of, you know, super spy kind of name?

Because when I saw the things of GS1, I say, no, this thing can't be legit. I just flash it. I can't read my research and find out that, you know, it's actually is legit. I mean, why not just have a simple name like SON, you know, standards Organization of Nigeria or the other one International standards book number, you know, ISBN just like simple numbers and say you come up with this code GS, one thing sounds like a scam.

So in fact, when I found them at first, I didn't want to show my friend wanted to check and check and check like is this the real IB is a scam? So GS1, those are the people that you have to last with to get your numbers. OK, well before I go into more details about the process, let me tackle this question. If you're an SMB, should you bother and like more things? The answer is it depends. But like I've told you guys so far, it's going to make it easier to manage your stock levels and location and everything.

So that will save you a nightmare than waiting for somebody to go and reconcile by hand. How many did I count? How many could I find? So I think that's a good idea. But now from a very practical level, some of you might not like to hear this, but why Niger? It kind of gives a professional image and you know, customer trust and customer confidence. It's just the way we Nigerians are. If you go to supermarket, you buy a whole bunch of stuff.

Everything has bar code. And then this particular soap, this particular tissue, this particular, this particular that, this particular in fact, medicine, the medicine doesn't have bar code. I'm assuring you may be like, OK, just a guess, but I think we were like 50% of Nigerians zoom by. If you go and buy your anti metatrine, lute, leukaem, methatrine, you know all those anti malaria drugs and then they bring 1. You just look here, you look here.

You didn't see backward. I think some people just think this thing is fake and they won't buy it. So from that very Niger level, I will say, yeah, just go ahead and get your product backward number. You'll help your thing look professional, stand out. People have confidence that OK, this is a real deal. You know it's not a scam. So like I said, you need the barcode. You should be looking at 4 GS one. I'm not going to give the contact details that I found because anyway, I want you to do your own research.

So just go on Google GS1 Nigeria, you're going to find an address. The address is in Lagos. I found an Abuja address, but to be honest, I'm not too confident about that Abuja address. So these phone numbers, the Lagos address and then an e-mail address for enquiries then well, like I said and I've been saying on the podcast, please double check, triple check, verify all the information that you get over here because you know me just going to go and do some research.

And I put it like, that's just me doing my research. So shine your eyes, check very well. And like I said, if any of you go through this process and the thing checks out, I beg get back to me, let me know what's up so I can make a follow up episode to let people know that, OK, this thing I found, it's verified, it's trusted because one of us, one of the community has gone ahead and sorted this thing. So GS one capital G, capital S

#1. So you'll have to become a member of the GS1. And then when you're a member of the GS1, you're going to apply for a GTIN number that is a global trade item number GTIN. That's what you'll apply for. So it's the process of applying for this GTIN now that they will now create because of course once they give you the number, then I'll create the barcode. And like I said, it's universal. So you know that barcode, the information will now be readable whether you're selling your product in Nigeria, in Ghana, in Yugoslavia, in America or Lithuania.

So just that one number. So you will now after that, it's up to you to now incorporate the thing into your product design, to print the barcode and then incorporate into your product design. I was able to find some of these steps from some resources online, but like I said, go and check yourself. The website is www.gs1.org.org. So again, so excuse me, www.gs1.org. Capital G Capital S #1 not writing it. O&E write it as #1 then I think that's all pretty much.

Let me not stress this one. Let me not stress it too much, especially since it's not my area of speciality. I'm only making it because I got lots of questions that are business related and this is one that I did not have an answer to. I did some research. Hopefully there's some resources here that should be useful for you guys. So if you are interested, you're like my friend and his wife, they're doing soap or maybe you're manufacturing Nigerian baby diapers or what else, or you want to start your own brand of table water.

OK, People who sell pure water, I don't think people who sell pure water bother with back roads. I haven't seen back roads on pure water, but I've seen back roads on on table water like your Nestle water and stuff like that. So if you're getting into these kinds of businesses and you're interested, please take this information, verify this information are big verify. Like I said, I couldn't find a lot. I just assumed that on this kind of thing, I would have found too many resources.

I assume the problem will be how to scale down all the resources that I'm getting. Well, unfortunately, there's not too much information that is out there. So verify the information that I've given. If you come across some new resources, let me know. And please, if you go ahead and you apply successfully, let me know the outcome. Also let me know where I was wrong so I can come back and clarify errors and you know, give people more guidance so the other people who need product barcodes can be able to hook themselves up.

So that's all for today, folks. Remember, if you have any sales and marketing questions, bring them to me. You can call, you can SMS, you can WhatsApp on 08064662140. Even if it's not a sales and marketing question like product barcodes. I'll do my best, so thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you, dear listener, at the next episode.