A working checklist for Sunrise 2027

Updated July 2026

Ordering matters here more than completeness. Several of these steps are expensive to redo if taken out of sequence.

Start with the catalog data

1. Export your full product catalog as text, not as a spreadsheet that has already mangled the identifiers.
2. Validate every GTIN. Check digits, lengths, and leading zeros before building URLs or artwork.
3. Find duplicates. Two products sharing a GTIN is a data problem that becomes an inventory and recall problem.
4. Confirm the GTIN on each package matches the GTIN in your system. They diverge more often than anyone expects.

Set the identification and domain rules

5. Choose your identification level. Product-level identification is enough for most catalogs. Add batch or item-level data when traceability, expiry, or recall work justifies variable-data printing.
6. Choose your domain. Use a subdomain you own because the address cannot be changed on inventory that has already been printed.
7. Decide what a scan should show for the consumer and each trading partner.

Build

8. Generate Digital Link URLs and verify they resolve before anything reaches artwork.
9. Generate symbols at print resolution with correct physical dimensions and a full quiet zone.
10. Preflight the artwork for size, quiet zone, contrast, and the encoded catalog data.

Check a printed sample

11. Print a sample and scan it with a real POS-style scanner and with phones. Digital checks cannot predict ink behavior on your substrate.
12. Confirm with your retail partners before the full run. Their requirements are enforceable.

Then keep it alive

A code printed today may still be scanned in 2032. Continue checking destination responses and connection errors when the website or hosting arrangement changes.