Long before COVID-19 was even a blip on the radar, countless obituaries had been written for traditional shopping, mega malls, brick and mortar retailers, and mom and pop shops. According to a new survey of US shoppers, the ongoing global pandemic is on track to all but eliminate retail and commerce as we once knew it. 

A new Barcode Assessment study conducted by AmerisourceBergen Corporation, McKesson Pharmaceutical and Cardinal Health, in collaboration with GS1 US®, revealed that 74.3% of pharmaceutical barcodes scanned in the wholesalers’ facilities meet the 2013 Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) serialization requirements—a 54% year-over-year improvement when compared to the same study conducted in 2018. Details of the Barcode Assessment study are published in a new GS1 US report, “2019 Update: Barcode Readability for DSCSA 2023 Interoperability.”