Manufacturers go global as GS1 Nigeria offers barcodes
A new trend is emerging in the Nigerian manufacturing space as players are now becoming increasingly conscious of being global brands by adopting and using the GS1 Nigeria barcode system meant to make their products more efficient, while also improving the visibility of supply and demand chains globally and across sectors.
Barcodes offered by GS1 Nigeria, an offshoot of GS1 based in Belgium, are global standards for international identification, geared towards improving the efficiency and visibility of demand and supply chains. They are also important for tracking and tracing products back to their producers, while allowing companies worldwide to uniquely identify their customers, products, services, assets, logistic units, shipments, among other things.
Currently, the rush is on at GS1 Nigeria as the company has offered 4000 global trade identification numbers to 800 Nigerian companies – large-, medium- and small-scale (SMEs).
With barcodes, manufacturers, retail shops and super market owners, supply chain and hyper market players as well as SMEs operators in Nigeria can sell their products in any part of the world. These also allow for customised marketing and greater understanding of individual consumer shopping patterns.
“We are desirous of ensuring that manufacturers and businesspeople move their products freely across Nigeria,’’ says Tunde Odunlami, CEO, GS1 Nigeria, in its office located at Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) House, Ikeja, Lagos, during the 40th anniversary of GS1.
“We want to ensure that businesses in Nigeria see each other as collaborators rather than competitors. We want to ensure they share information. Our membership structure favours SMEs. Eight hundred companies have registered with us and we have issued over 4000 global trade identification to them,’’ he says, adding that they are poised to make businesses more of collaborators than competitors.
GSI, a neutral association, operates in 150 countries. But its Nigeria offshoot is seven years old, having been put together by the MAN, the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), National Supermarket Operators of Nigeria (NASON), and PoS Shop Limited.
While GS1 Nigeria offers barcodes that make particularly manufacturers of the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) globally competitive, it also advises firms to beware of some unscrupulous elements who counterfeit its barcodes.
“If you see a barcode number, just go to gsi.org, where you will get a verification link. Type the barcode number and the system will tell you the owner of the barcode and its country of origin,’’ advises Odunlami.
Apart from barcodes offerings, the firm also provides services such as Product-Authentication, Anti-counterfeiting, Order-to-cash, MobileCom, Auto-ID, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), among others.
Kunle Oye-Igbemo, solutions architect and manager, industry engagement and training, GS1 Nigeria, says the company is taking proactive approach to ensure that consumer preferences, which are mainly digital, are taken care of.
Odinaka Anudu