A barcode is a machine-readable representation of a unique number, allowing retailers to track product sales in their inventory system. It typically consists of dark ink on a light background, forming high and low reflectance patterns that are converted to binary digits. UPCs (12 digits) and EANs (13 digits) are common types of barcodes.

ASN Shipping Barcode

An ASN Shipping Barcode (Advance Shipping Notice barcode) is a logistics barcode used to identify and track a shipment before it arrives at its destination. It typically contains a unique shipment ID linked to an electronic ASN document, which tells the receiving warehouse exactly what is being shipped, how many units are included, and how it’s packed. ASN barcodes are widely used in retail, wholesale, and distribution to ensure accurate, efficient, and traceable goods movement from supplier to receiver. They are used to identify pallets of products going into large distribution centres (DCs) such as Costco and Big W. Hence if you are not supply these large retailers, you may not need them. You may need an ITF-14 carton code instead.

An ASN shipping barcode streamlines supply-chain operations by allowing warehouses and retailers to:

Pre-plan receiving and allocate space before the goods arrive
Speed up check-in with fast barcode scanning
Reduce manual data entry errors
Match incoming cartons or pallets to the electronic ASN record
Improve traceability for audits, compliance, and retailer requirements

The SSCC barcode is a unique number. Retailers use the SSCC to identify each pallet in their distribution centre or warehouse.

Below shows an example of an ASN shipping barcode.

The barcode encodes the SSCC-18 number: (00) 079471248950000026

Work out how many you need. Purchase the quantity you want. Let us know the Application Identifiers you want encoded by sending us an email or fill in this online form. Once you have provided the required information, we can make the ASN shipping barcodes images. We will email them to you in 3 formats (png, svg and pdf formats). We can provide additional formats upon request.

Quantity	Price per barcode
1	$ 50
2	$ 40
3	$ 30
4 +	$ 20

Application Identifiers (AI)

GS1 Application Identifiers (AIs) are numeric prefixes used in barcodes and EPC/RFID tags to define the meaning and format of encoded data elements. The maximum character count is 48 characters.

Some of the most commonly used AIs are:

00 – SSCC

02 – GTIN of product on the pallet, i.e. barcode number

10 – Batch number

15 – Best Before Date (YYMMDD)

17 – Expiry date

37 – Number of Units (Count)

Printing General Industry Standards

While there’s no single universal size, ASN labels usually follow GS1 logistics label guidelines:

Minimum label size:
Typically, around 100 × 150 mm — the most common.
Quiet zones:
Barcodes must have clear white space around them.
Barcode height:
Usually 32 mm (1.25″) minimum for GS1-128 on pallets.
X-dimension:
Often 0.0197″–0.026″ (0.5–0.66 mm) depending on required scan distance.