First, you will need to sign-in to MyGS1. MyGS1 is GS1 New Zealand’s online portal where members can access GS1 services, including allocating and managing barcode numbers.
Get Started
The best place to start is the Get Started section on your My Products screen.
Select the Get a barcode for my product button, or alternatively – the Create New button in the My Products section of MyGS1.
Create a brand
The first time you create a new barcode, you‘ll be asked to set your brand name. You’ll only need to do this once, as it will be automatically selected for you from then on.
If you have multiple brands, you can add a new brand at any time. You’ll then be prompted to select the appropriate brand when creating new products.
Packaging Levels
Next you’ll be asked to select the packaging level of the unit the barcode is to be allocated to. As product packaging levels are hierarchical, we ask that you start with your ‘lowest level’ item – what we call the ‘Base unit’ – first (typically a single retail unit).
Whilst the packaging level you choose won’t impact the barcode number allocated, it does dictate how much information about the product you will need to enter. For example, when you choose a higher packaging level unit, we reuse the information you entered for the Base unit.
Describe your product
For a Base unit, specific product information is required to build a unique description of your product, which can be linked to the barcode number.
All fields marked with an asterisk (*) must be filled out.
If you have any questions, please contact GS1’s Support team.
There is more information to the right of each field. Please select a field to see the relevant information.
Help others find your product
The second section is additional information to assist in finding your product.
Product Category
GS1’s Global Product Classification (GPC) groups products together based on their essential properties as well as their relationships to other products. Learn more about the GPC.
This field offers suggestions based on your product’s ‘functional name.’ If you are not receiving any suggestions (or none are suitable), type one or two words to describe your product. Alternatively use the GPC browser. The lowest level category is required, so please navigate through the options until you find the most appropriate category. If you need assistance, please contact GS1’s Support Team to suggest an appropriate category.
Product image
You can add an image to help identify your product. This is optional and can be updated at a later date.
Images must be a minimum of 900px (at the shortest dimension) and ideally be square. If your original image is not square, you can use GS1’s built in cropping tool.
The image file format must be JPG.
GS1 Global Registry
In this section, you can add your product to the GS1 Global Registry. By selecting this option, when you have your barcode number, your product data will be added to a global database essentially creating a Passport for your product.
If your product is yet to be launched or is commercially sensitive, you can deselect this option and your product data will be saved privately in MyGS1 only. Please enter an estimated release date as an indication of when it is OK to register your barcode number in the GS1 Global Registry. You can still use your barcode number to identify your product straight away.
Learn more about the GS1 Global Registry.
Allocate a number
If you don’t have all your required product information, or you are not yet ready to allocate a barcode number, you can choose to save your product as a Draft. This will be saved to your ‘My Products’ section of MyGS1.
If you are all set to go, please select ‘Save & Submit.’
Review your details
After selecting submit, you’ll be asked to review your product data. Please check the product information and if any of the details have been entered incorrectly, select ‘Edit’ or simply close the window to return to the form.
Product description
The product description (also referred to as the ‘Trade Item Description’) is the unique string of text that we save with the barcode number. It’s constructed by linking together your core product data.
You are able to edit the description however please ensure it stays unique to the product variant. (Note: if you do edit your description, any changes to your product data will no longer automatically change in the description).
Confirm
When you are happy with the details, click on ‘Confirm & Continue’ to allocate a barcode number. If you have licensed more than one range of barcode numbers, you’ll be asked to select the appropriate range.
Success!
You should see a success message with your allocated barcode number. If you are not seeing this message, please contact GS1’s Support Team immediately.
You can now use this barcode number to identify your product.
The success message gives you several options, including downloading a barcode (the graphic or ‘symbol’) to supply to your packaging designer. You can also continue to create numbers for your packaging hierarchy, or create another Base unit.
Download a Barcode
Once you have a unique barcode number assigned to your product, you can then generate a barcode symbol (graphic) of the barcode to use on your packaging.
Select the Download Barcode button in you product summary, or from a list entry in the My Products section.
The appropriate barcode format will be automatically selected for your unit (for example, the EAN-13 format is used for all retail units). Learn more about barcode formats in the GS1 New Zealand User Guide.
GS1 members get 10 free barcode download credits a year.
Adding a Packaging Level
To get a barcode for your shipper unit, select ‘Create Packaging Level’ from your Base unit. You’ll be asked to select the level of packaging hierarchy (learn more about packaging levels). Choose the appropriate level, then simply add the quantity of contained units.
If your packaging level is intended to be a retail unit, you can select this option and customise the description, if needed.
Now confirm the details are correct to allocate a barcode number.
More options
Need to add a large number of products?
If you are entering several similar products, you can use the ‘copy product’ function. This is available from an individual product’s action menu.
Copying a product will copy all your previously entered values for the base. Simply modify the field unique to the new product variant.
If you have a significant number of products you need barcodes for, or you already have comprehensive product data in a spreadsheet, you can use GS1’s ‘Bulk Upload’ template. More information about bulk uploading product data here.
Editing product data
You can edit your product to fix data that has been entered incorrectly. If your product is changing, you may need to allocate a new barcode number.
Manage your account
Account Usage
In the Account section of MyGS1, you’ll find all your allocated barcodes listed individually.
It can be a surprise how quickly 100 barcode numbers can be used-up, so if you need more numbers, you can top up by selecting the ‘License more’ button.
General account details
Note: We’re actively working on transitioning all functions from GS1’s old MyGS1 system, however some Account actions may still require you to access the old system. Where possible, we’ve included direct links to specific areas of the old system.
To navigate back to the new MyGS1 system, select the ‘My Products’ link in the main menu.