A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data such as a stock code. They have been around for a long time and are mostly used in stock control applications.
The Quick Response code (QR-Code) is a lot more powerful. It is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes and consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. It is readable by a dedicated QR reader such as Google Goggles on smartphones.
QR-codes can be printed in adverts and can be used to:
- display text to mobile user (e.g. features of your product
- add a vCard contact to the user's device (e.g the contact details of your sales office)
- open a website URL (Uniform Resource Identifier) (e.g. your ecommerce website)#
- compose an e-mail or text message (e.g. asking you to call them back to take their order!)
Sage 50 allows barcodes to be captured on the product record which can then be printed out. Third party software, such as Trace-IT from Red IT Solutions www.red-it.co.uk, is normally needed to use barcodes for stock, dispatch, goods received and other warehouse management tasks.
To use barcodes and QR-Codes with Sage 50, these are the steps you will need to follow:
- Import your barcodes into Sage 50 product list using Excel2Sage www.excel2sage.co.uk
- Make sure your ecommerce site can use these barcodes as a parameter to take potential customers directly to the order screen filling in quantity, price
- Generate your QR-Code to direct users to your ecommerce site using the parameter above and print it on your adverts. You can use one of several paid and free QR-code generating sites or apps:
QR-Codes are an easy way to communicate your message to customers and direct them to what you want them to know / see. Use them else you could lose ground to your competition!
Try it NOW, just scan the QR-code at the top of this article on your smartphone to see how easy it is!
About Excel2Sage
Excel2Sage www.excel2sage.co.uk is a very easy to use program which allows everyday data to be imported from Excel to Sage with JUST ONE CLICK!
It improves efficiency whilst eradicating errors.
YouTube videos showing how various transactions can be imported using Excel2Sage can be found http://www.excel2sage.co.uk/index.php/tutorials/
About the author
Ara Martirossian is a Director of Red IT Solutions Limited http://www.red-it.co.uk as well as a National Council and IT Faculty Member at the ICAEW. He can be contacted via email on ara@red-it.co.uk.
