GS1 Digital Link is the standard that turns a product's GTIN into a web address — one QR code that both scans at the checkout and opens a product page on a shopper's phone. It is the engine behind the "Sunrise 2027" transition.
Today's packaging often carries an EAN for the till plus a separate marketing QR. Digital Link merges them: a URI like https://yourbrand.com/01/09521234543213?17=271231 embeds the GTIN (the /01/ segment) and optional data such as expiry (17), batch (10) and serial (21) in a standardized structure. A 2D-capable checkout extracts the GTIN and rings up the sale; a phone opens the link.
The GS1 initiative asks retailers to be capable of scanning 2D codes at point of sale by the end of 2027. It does not order brands to drop 1D barcodes — and GS1's own guidance says 2D codes at retail still need an accompanying 1D barcode until the vast majority of POS systems are upgraded. The practical pattern through the transition is dual marking: EAN/UPC and Digital Link QR side by side, carrying the same GTIN, within 50 mm of each other so high-speed scanners don't double-ring.
① Keep your GS1 licence current — the GTIN in the QR is the same one in your EAN. ② Decide where the link resolves: your product page, or GS1's resolver (id.gs1.org). ③ Generate a standards-correct Digital Link QR — our free Digital Link generator validates the GTIN, builds the URI in canonical AI order, and forces HTTPS. ④ For packaging, our dual barcode generator lays out both codes in one correctly spaced vector block.
Two things stay your responsibility: a GTIN you legitimately own, and a destination the URI resolves to. Any tool claiming to sell "Sunrise 2027 compliance" as a download is overpromising — compliance lives in your GS1 membership and your retailers' scanner fleets, not in the image file.