What does UPC stand for? The letters mean Universal Product Code, the striped barcode and row of numbers printed on almost every packaged item sold in a US store. A checkout scanner reads the bars, turns them into a number and looks up the item's name and price in the store's system.
The code identifies a product, not a single box. Every can of the same soup in the same size and flavor carries the same UPC, no matter which store sells it. That shared number lets makers, warehouses and retailers all talk about the item the same way.
Quick facts
Stands for
Universal Product CodeType
Initialism, said U P CCommon format
UPC-A, 12 digits under the barsShort format
UPC-E, 8 digits, for small packagesUsed in
Retail checkout, inventory, online listings, shippingPlural
UPCs, no apostropheNot to be confused with
SKU, a store's own stock number
What does UPC stand for? Unpacking the name
The name packs three ideas into three words.
- Universal: one number works across every store and distributor that uses the system, so a product does not need a new code for each seller.
- Product: the code points to a product at the item level, such as a 16 ounce jar of a certain peanut butter, not to a whole brand.
- Code: the digits, and the bars that encode them, are a machine readable label.
You say it letter by letter, "U P C," so it is an initialism. People often say "UPC code," which repeats the word code. That repeat is common in speech and on forms, and nobody will misread it. The what is an acronym explainer sorts barcode names like this one into the right family.
How the 12 digits are put together
The most common US version, UPC-A, has 12 digits. They break down into three parts.
| Part | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Company prefix | The first group of digits, assigned to the brand owner by the standards body |
| Item reference | The next digits, chosen by the company for each size, flavor or color |
| Check digit | The final digit, worked out from the others so a scanner can catch a misread |
The prefix and item reference together always fill 11 digits, so a company with a longer prefix has fewer numbers left for its items. The check digit is a small math test. If one bar is smudged and the scanner gets a digit wrong, the math usually fails and the register beeps for a rescan instead of ringing up the wrong thing.
Where you run into a UPC
Most shoppers see UPCs only at the register, but the number does a lot of work out of sight.
- Checkout: the scanner reads it and pulls the item from the store's POS system.
- Selling online: many online marketplaces ask sellers for a UPC so the same product is grouped in one listing.
- Warehouses: staff scan cases as they arrive and leave, which keeps stock counts current.
- Returns and recalls: a store can find every unit of a recalled item by its code.
On a seller form: "Product ID type: UPC. Enter the 12 digit number printed under the barcode." The form wants the digits only, with no spaces or dashes.
A short history of the code
US grocers and food makers worked together in the early 1970s to pick one shared barcode, so stores could scan items instead of typing in prices by hand. The first item scanned with a UPC at a supermarket register was a pack of chewing gum, at a store in Troy, Ohio, in 1974.
Today a nonprofit standards group, GS1 US, hands out company prefixes in the United States. Outside North America, stores use a 13 digit cousin called the EAN, and modern scanners read both.
UPC vs SKU vs serial number
These three numbers often sit on the same box, and they answer different questions.
| Number | Who makes it | What it identifies |
|---|---|---|
| UPC | The brand owner, from a registered prefix | One product, the same in every store |
| SKU | Each retailer, for its own use | An item in that store's stock list |
| Serial number | The maker | One single unit, such as one laptop |
So two stores can carry the same blender with the same UPC but give it two different SKUs. A QR code is something else again: a square code that can hold a web address or text, while a UPC holds only its product number.
Using UPC in everyday sentences
- "Scan the UPC on the back of the box."
- "The UPCs on these two sizes are different, so ring them up separately."
- "We need a UPC for each color before we can list them online."
- "The scanner could not read the UPC, so the cashier typed in the numbers."
- "The recall notice lists the UPC and the best by date."
Write it in capital letters with no periods. Use "a UPC," since the first letter is said "you." The business acronyms hub gathers more retail and money terms.
Questions people ask
What does UPC stand for on a product?
It stands for Universal Product Code. It is the barcode and the 12 digits under it, and it tells a store's scanner exactly which product you are buying.
Is a UPC the same as a barcode?
Not quite. A barcode is any pattern of bars a machine can read, and there are many kinds. The UPC is one specific barcode standard used on retail goods in the United States and Canada.
How many digits are in a UPC?
The standard UPC-A has 12 digits. A shorter UPC-E version with 8 digits is used on small packages where a full code would not fit.
Can two products have the same UPC?
They should not. Each size, flavor or color of a product gets its own number, and reusing a code would make scanners ring up the wrong item.
What is the difference between a UPC and a SKU?
A UPC is set by the brand owner and stays the same in every store. A SKU is a stock number each retailer makes up for its own inventory.