How to use your phone as a barcode scanner in your shop

A barcode is just a number printed as stripes. When you scan it, the software reads that number and looks it up in your product list. If the number is there, the product appears with its price. If it is not, nothing happens, because the barcode itself holds no name or price.

That one fact explains most scanning problems. A scan can only find products you have already added to your own list, with that barcode attached. The first time you meet a product, you add it. Every time after, a scan is faster than typing or searching. Read barcodes for small shops for the background on code types and labelling your own items.

Most shops should start with the camera. If you find yourself scanning more than a few hundred items a day, or customers are waiting while the camera focuses, a basic handheld scanner is a cheap upgrade. Choose one that works as a keyboard (almost all do) so it behaves the same with any system. Shopkeepa is built to support camera, Bluetooth and USB scanners.

• Light. Scan under the shop light, not in a dark storeroom. If you must scan in a dim corner, use the phone torch.
• Distance. Hold the phone about 10 to 20 centimetres from the code and let it focus. Moving closer often makes it worse.
• Angle. Avoid glare. A shiny wrapper can reflect the light straight back, so tilt the item slightly.
• Steady hand. Rest your wrist on the counter. Shaky scans fail more than dim ones.
• Clean lens. A greasy camera lens is the most common hidden cause of slow scanning. Wipe it with a soft cloth.
• Fill the frame. The whole code, including the blank margin on each side, should be visible.

Some products will not scan. A torn label, a crinkled bag or a code printed on a curve are all common. Try these in order:

1. Smooth it and try again

   Flatten the packaging against the counter and rescan from a slightly different angle.

2. Check the other side

   Many products carry the code in two places, such as a case and the unit.

3. Search by name

   Fall back to typing the name or picking it from your favourites. This takes a few seconds.

4. Make your own label

   For loose items and shop-packed goods, print or write a short code and stick it on. Use the same code every time.

Take a shop counting 240 products. Counting without scanning means finding each product in a list, which might take 20 seconds a product including scrolling: 80 minutes. Scanning means pick up item, beep, type the count: perhaps 8 seconds each, around 32 minutes. These timings are illustrative and will vary with your shop, but the saving is real, and so is the drop in mistakes from picking the wrong similar-looking row.

The same logic applies at the till. A cashier who scans never has to scroll for "Coca-Cola 500ml" among six sizes. See how to do a stock count for the whole method.

Scanning is only as good as the setup behind it. Spend one session attaching barcodes to your top 50 products, starting with the fastest sellers, since those are the scans you will do hundreds of times. Do the rest as they come up at the till: when a scan finds nothing, add the product then and there, and the next scan will work.

Keep one rule for products that come in more than one pack. A single bottle and a case of 12 usually carry different barcodes. Add them as separate products with their own prices and stock, rather than trying to make one barcode do both jobs. For shop-packed items, such as bagged rice or sugar you weigh into portions, choose one standard bag size so a single label works every time. Shopkeepa counts whole units only, so a bag is one unit.

Finally, do a quick test every week or two: pick five random products and scan them. If any scan the wrong product, fix it straight away. Small mistakes caught early are cheap, and old ones hide inside stock numbers for months.

Shopkeepa uses your phone, tablet or computer camera to scan barcodes at the point of sale and during stock counts. When you add a product, you scan its barcode once to attach it. From then on, scanning that product adds it to the sale or finds it for counting. If a code is unknown, Shopkeepa tells you it is not in your list so you can add it on the spot with quick add, rather than guessing. Duplicate warnings help stop the same barcode being attached to two products.

If you later add a Bluetooth or USB scanner, it works the same way, with no change to how products are set up. Learn more about barcode scanning. Shopkeepa is in development, and early access shops will help shape it.