What is the difference between an EAN and a barcode?

The terms "barcode" and "EAN" often get used interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. Understanding the difference helps you link your products cleanly and avoid scanning errors in your warehouse.

What is a barcode?

A barcode is a machine-readable representation of data: a series of lines and spaces of varying widths that stand for numbers or characters. You will find them on products, letters and parcels, and a scanner or phone reads them in a fraction of a second.

So "barcode" is an umbrella term. Several types exist, such as UPC (Universal Product Code), QR codes and the EAN. Each type has its own use and is common in different regions or industries.

What is an EAN?

EAN stands for European Article Number, a specific type of barcode used worldwide to identify products in retail. An EAN consists of 13 digits that together are globally unique to a single product. Want to know how those digits are built up? You can read that in what is an EAN code.

The core difference

"Barcode" is the general term for any kind of data that can be scanned visually. An EAN is one specific format within that, used by retail across the globe. In other words: every EAN is a barcode, but not every barcode is an EAN.

Why this matters for your records

In practice you work with both. You link an EAN to your product so sales channels like bol and your webshop know exactly which item it is. In your warehouse you then scan barcodes to pick and book in the right products.

In ShopLinkr you record EANs on your products and group variants by EAN, so your stock stays correct across every channel. When picking, you scan the barcode on the item and the location, so you never put the wrong product in a parcel. That keeps your inventory in sync in real time and prevents mistakes and overselling.

Get started

Want to manage your products by EAN and process orders with barcode scanning? Try ShopLinkr 14 days free and see how it works in your warehouse.