Live at East: Amazon Pushes Serialization, Brands Prepare for Sunrise 2027 Shift
As retailers prepare for Sunrise 2027, brands face decisions on 2D barcode placement, serialization, and packaging redesign. At PACK EXPO East, GS1 and Amazon outlined how retail compliance and unit-level authentication are beginning to converge.
Clay Ryan, head of worldwide business development at Amazon Transparency
Retailers are piloting 2D barcode scanning at point of sale. Fresh food programs are using expiry data to automate markdowns. Beauty and OTC brands are evaluating whether to redesign packaging now or risk doing it twice before 2027. And consumer electronics brands already serializing for diversion control are assessing how to align those systems with GS1 standards.
At PACK EXPO East in Philadelphia, Andrew Morehead and Steven Keddie of GS1 outlined how Sunrise 2027 is progressing across retail and regulated sectors, while in a separate session Clay Ryan of Amazon’s Transparency program described how unit-level serialization aligns with the shift to 2D barcodes.
Taken together, what swims into view is that 2D adoption is not a single-criteria decision. For brands and CPGs, it's a packaging, compliance, retail, and data architecture decision.
GS1: Retail Readiness, Placement Rules, and Sector-Specific Use Cases
“Industry came together to set this date to utilize 2D barcodes at Point of Sale (POS) and what that means is scanning a 2D barcode and getting that GTIN worldwide,” said Andrew Morehead, director of community engagement at GS1 US.
Sunrise 2027 in the U.S., and Ambition 2027 globally, establish a milestone for retail systems to be capable of scanning a 2D barcode and extracting at least the GTIN. Linear barcodes are not being retired.
“The 1D barcode is not going anywhere. There’s no sunset of the UPC or EAN barcode,” Morehead said.
For CPGs with high-volume SKUs in grocery, mass, club, and drug, that means dual-marking during a transition period while retailers update POS hardware and software.
GS1 outlined three compliant 2D options for brands: GS1 DataMatrix, QR codes with GS1 Digital Link, and DataMatrix with Digital Link functionality. Sunrise 2027 requires that retailers be able to extract at least the GTIN from a 2D symbol, while additional data such as lot, batch, expiry, or serial numbers can also be encoded.
Morehead noted that retailers preparing for Sunrise 2027 will need to update systems to process all compliant 2D formats alongside existing 1D barcodes.Steven Keddie (speaking) and Andrew Morehead of GS1 outlined how Sunrise 2027 is progressing across retail and regulated sectors. And more importantly, they revealed what packaging changes that brands will need to be focusing on soon, if not already.
Packaging Operations: The 50 mm Rule
For packaging engineers and converters, GS1’s guidance on placement was specific. Testing indicates the 2D symbol should be within 50 millimeters of the linear barcode to avoid disrupting checkout performance.
“We should have the [2D] barcode within 50 millimeters of the linear [1D] bar because the associates at the high speed point of sale already know where that linear barcode is,” said Keddie, senior director at GS1 Global Office.
He added:
“All the new scanners all scan 2D barcodes faster than the 1D barcodes.”
For a refrigerated ready-meal brand running high-velocity SKUs, that placement decision affects artwork layout, symbol sizing, and print quality control. For a beverage brand redesigning a shrink sleeve, it affects panel allocation. For a private-label program managing dozens of SKUs across formats, it affects template standardization.
Small-format packaging introduces limits.
“Those smaller products like stick packs will likely only have only the 1D [linear] barcode,” Keddie said.
For single-serve nutraceutical sachets, cosmetics samples, or narrow blister packs in OTC, dual-marking may not be feasible without removing the linear barcode once retailers are ready.
“Start small. Start with one product, work your way through it, understand how it gets there,” Keddie added.
The Sunrise 2027 implementation guide, developed with input from more than 300 companies across retail, brand, and technical sectors, outlines packaging, data, and system-readiness considerations for both retailers and manufacturers.
Morehead reiterated that Sunrise 2027 establishes a retail-readiness milestone, not a mandate to eliminate existing barcodes. The focus, he said, is ensuring that retailers can extract at least the GTIN from a 2D symbol while brands determine how much additional functionality to incorporate.
Notably, just outside the presentation stage in the PACK EXPO East exhibit hall, coding and marking suppliers including Domino Printing, Markem-Imaje, Matthews Marking Systems, and Videojet, among others, were exhibiting 2D-capable printing systems, variable data solutions, and software designed to support GS1 Sunrise 2027 and serialization. For brands evaluating how to add GS1 DataMatrix or QR codes, with or without unit-level serialization, the necessary inkjet, laser, thermal transfer, and print-and-apply technologies were already on display.
Fresh Food, Apparel, Healthcare: Different Drivers, Same Code
GS1 emphasized that use cases vary by sector.
In fresh and ultra-fresh foods, retailers are already leveraging expiry data.
“The major retailers that are adopting are really focused on their first day on fresh foods,” Keddie said.
He described scenarios where retailers can “look at the expiry date, they can do automatic price down,” helping reduce shrink. For produce, meat, and prepared food programs, that directly affects margin recovery.
For apparel and general merchandise brands facing Digital Product Passport requirements in Europe, 2D codes enable digital sustainability disclosures. For global footwear and apparel brands — such as Puma and Patagonia, referenced in the session — QR codes with Digital Link are appearing alongside RFID tags, linking physical product instances to digital records.
In healthcare and OTC, 2D is already standard practice.
Pharmaceutical and medical device companies have long used GS1 DataMatrix to comply with UDI and traceability regulations. As OTC brands sell through mass retail and e-commerce simultaneously, those 2D capabilities increasingly intersect with Sunrise 2027 POS expectations.
On the regulatory front, Keddie warned:
“If the brands that are going to be subject to the [Digital Product Passport] don’t make their move now and start testing and understanding what it takes actually print these 2D barcodes, they’re going to be in big trouble.”
For multinational CPGs with EU exposure, that timing intersects directly with packaging refresh cycles and artwork approvals.
Amazon: Serialization as Infrastructure, Not Just Authentication
In a separate session, Clay Ryan, head of product for Amazon Transparency, focused on unit-level serialization and the program’s role in supporting 2D adoption.
Ryan said Amazon’s informal polling of brand partners suggests fewer than 20% are actively planning for Sunrise 2027 or mapping out how serialization will align with upcoming packaging refresh cycles. That lag, he suggested, creates both risk and opportunity as retailers prepare for 2027.
“It’s essentially a service… that is a product authentication service that essentially relies on item level serialization as the mechanism,” Ryan said. “We do have 88,000 brands using the service worldwide.”
While beauty and skincare brands are frequent examples due to counterfeiting risk, Ryan broadened the use case to electronics, premium supplements, and other categories vulnerable to diversion and gray-market resale.
He described a premium skincare scenario in which a counterfeit item damages brand reputation. Transparency assigns a unique code to every unit. For products shipped through Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), serialized units are scanned before shipment.
“We’re not waiting for customers to report problems, we’re trying to stop them before they happen,” Ryan said.
He added that beyond counterfeiting, serialization addresses “order defect prevention,” including wrong variation shipments and parallel imports — a concern for global consumer electronics brands managing region-specific SKUs.
Packaging Real Estate: From Four Codes to One
Ryan estimated that many brands currently carry three to four codes on pack: UPC, marketing QR, authentication code, and lot or batch data.
“For a lot of brands… each one takes up valuable real estate,” he said.
His proposal is a single GS1 Sunrise–compliant 2D barcode incorporating GTIN, serialization, and Digital Link functionality.
“This single 2D barcode does everything,” Ryan said.
For a mid-sized beauty brand refreshing cartons, that could mean reclaiming space previously dedicated to multiple codes. For a beverage brand, it could reduce clutter on a back panel. For consumer electronics packaging — already crowded with regulatory marks — it could consolidate functional markings.
“It returns precious real estate for packaging artwork to designers,” Ryan said.
Recall Precision and Supply Chain Visibility
Serialization was also framed as an operational tool.
In a recall scenario, Ryan noted that traditional 1D identification often requires broad recalls across production runs.
“With traditional barcodes… they essentially had to recall every unit from that entire production run,” he said.
With serialization, “you can target your recall with surgical precision.”
For a frozen food manufacturer subject to FSMA 204 traceability requirements, that could reduce destroyed inventory. For an OTC brand managing lot-level risk, it could limit exposure. For electronics brands dealing with battery issues or firmware defects, it enables targeted pullbacks.
Ryan also cited theft prevention, diversion detection, and real-time inventory visibility — use cases relevant to brands selling through both Amazon and brick-and-mortar retail.
Timing: Packaging Refresh Cycles Matter
A recurring theme across both sessions was timing.
Ryan described a large CPG planning a 2027 packaging refresh that was unaware of Sunrise 2027 requirements.
For large enterprise CPGs that refresh packaging on multi-year cycles that redesign every three to five years, missing the Sunrise 2027 window could mean duplicating artwork approvals, validation testing, and line-change costs that might otherwise be consolidated into a single update.
“If they had gone ahead with their plans, they would’ve had to redesign again in 2027… essentially paying twice for the same work,” he said.
Serialization itself remains optional under Sunrise 2027.
“Serialization itself will be optional,” Ryan said, “however… we think that the benefits of serialization… will be very strong for both brands and retailers.”
Ryan said brands already operating proprietary serialization systems can integrate with Transparency without replacing existing infrastructure, allowing them to align with GS1 standards while preserving prior investment.
For Brands and CPGs, the Packaging Decision Is the Strategic Decision
Across grocery, beauty, OTC, apparel, and electronics, the common denominator is packaging.
The 2D symbol has to:
Scan reliably at high-speed POS
Fit within existing layout constraints
Print with sufficient quality for serialization (if adopted)
Integrate with supply chain and digital systems
GS1’s message focused on retail interoperability and regulatory readiness. Amazon’s message focused on unit-level authentication, diversion control, and data-driven recall management.
For brands and CPGs, the operational question is not simply whether to adopt 2D; the horse seems to be exiting the barn if it isn't out already. The question is how much functionality to build into that code when packaging lines are updated.
With 2027 as the retail milestone, packaging engineering, IT, regulatory, and brand teams will need to align decisions now that affect both in-store scanning and downstream supply chain visibility.
Steven Keddie (speaking) and Andrew Morehead of GS1 outlined how Sunrise 2027 is progressing across retail and regulated sectors. And more importantly, they revealed what packaging changes that brands will need to be focusing on soon, if not already. 
