In order for us to display your product availability on the brand websites, you must enter the supplier EAN in your merchandise management system and send it to us. In this article we explain what exactly we mean by that.
GTIN is short for Global Trade Item Number. It is only awarded once per product variation worldwide by a central office. It thus serves as an international item number and unique product identifier. The GTIN usually has 13 digits and is often located directly under a barcode on the product. The barcode makes the GTIN machine-readable.
Until 2009, the GTIN was called EAN or European Article Number. GTIN and EAN mean the same thing. In everyday language, they are also often used synonymously for the article number and the bar code (also known as the EAN code).
In the US and Canada, the UPC (Universal Product Code) barcode is used. It makes the GTIN machine-readable in the same way as the European EAN code. UPC code and EAN code are compatible.
When we speak of EAN at OUTTRA, this always refers to the supplier EAN - the EAN (or GTIN) that the manufacturer has assigned to the product. This is important to clarify, as some merchandise management systems can generate their own EANs - however, we cannot work with these.
OUTTRA uses the supplier EAN to clearly assign products. The following example illustrates this:
The deuter backpack AC Lite is available in different colors and sizes. Each product variation has its own, globally unique and clear EAN:
- The AC Lite 22 SL in green has the EAN 4046051112749
- The AC Lite 22 SL in gray has the EAN 4046051112725
- The AC Lite 28 SL in green has the EAN 4046051112824
You can usually find the supplier EANs on your delivery note or on the hangtag under the barcode. If you cannot find it, please contact the supplier directly. If you are unsure whether an EAN is correct, you can check whether the EAN is registered on the websites www.ean-suche.de or www.ean-search.org.