Demand for labels and packaging featuring 2D codes is growing, with many brands now looking to incorporate variable or serialised 2D codes for traceability, brand protection, and consumer engagement into their label and packaging designs.
While most converters are well-equipped to print 2D codes, there are huge opportunities for converters who understand and embrace 2D code technology. They can expand their offering to meet evolving customer needs, stand out in a crowded marketplace, and forge strong relationships with their brand customers.
Added-value printing opportunities for evolving converter-brand relationships
While many brands are eager to take advantage of the benefits of 2D codes, navigating their implementation can be intimidating. Results of the Appetite Creative Connected Packaging Survey 2025 show that more than a third of respondents who do not currently use connected packaging only have a limited understanding of 2D code applications and the technology behind them.
This knowledge gap presents several opportunities for converters to support brands, stand out from the competition, and grow their business:
- Providing consolidated label design and printing services, ensuring their customers’ static, dynamic, and variable 2D codes can be reliably printed and scanned.
- Joining the small but growing number of agencies offering digital marketing and data solutions to support brands with QR code campaigns.
- Becoming a trusted advisor and provide long-term support for their brand customers, implementing variable or serialised 2D codes, and managing the data included in QR codes powered by GS1.
- Supplying secure QR codes to aid QR Code Product Authentication.
Let’s explore these new revenue streams for converters, who could expand their team to establish an in-house offering or partner with an agency to provide a white-label service.
Packaging, Label Design, and Printing Services
Many brands already enlist third parties to create packaging and label designs, so offering comprehensive label design and printing services is a logical extension of a converter’s printing capabilities – and a service already provided by many.
Leaving the label design to the printing experts can offer great value for brands, as agencies are not necessarily familiar with QR code printing requirements regarding size and optimum on-pack positioning to ensure reliable scanning by retailers and consumers.
For converters already offering design services, adding digital services around 2D codes is a small step that could deliver significant benefits, with further opportunities to expand their in-house capabilities and provide end-to-end digital campaign solutions to their customers. Here, a converter could manage the whole process, from generating packaging QR codes to label and packaging design, to developing digital assets such as interactive apps and landing pages, alongside, of course, printing of the final design. Capturing data from campaign QR code scans could evolve into a subscription-based service monitoring user engagement, enabling brands to identify regional trends and develop new product variations and promotional campaigns.
There is also the opportunity to support brands taking advantage of data-rich QR codes powered by GS1. Regulatory applications, such as EU Digital Product Passports and electronic product labels, such as the EU e-label for wine, often hold long-term responsibilities to maintain product data across a SKU’s lifespan to ensure compliance with evolving requirements. Here, a converter could support the ongoing data management required, for example, by updating e-labels in terms of ingredients and nutritional information on behalf of their clients when needed.
Variable and Serialised QR Code Printing Service
Brands appreciate the perceived benefits that variable QR codes powered by GS1 could bring to their business, and demand for more granular tracking of individual products and product batches via code serialisation creates the need – and opportunity – for converters to build closer relationships with brands.
When offering a variable QR code printing service, producing labels and packaging on a just-in-time basis, featuring variable batch, expiry, or serial numbers, accuracy is key. Converters must ensure that the correct artwork and codes are printed to match up with the brand’s batch and expiry dates – crucial when producing packaging with serialised codes to support traceability.
Delivering the right labels, on the right day, for the correct batch, will require close collaboration and data integration between the converter and the brand, with code verification a key element of any successful QR code printing service, allowing brands to implement the GS1 QR codes their customers want with no to minimal production line modification or disruption.
Verification via a vision system can help ensure that all codes produced will be readable by retail, supply chain, and consumer scanners, detecting any errors that could render packaging unusable, or, if undetected, lead to costly and reputation-damaging recalls.
QR Code Product Authentication
Brands operating in market sectors with stringent product safety demands or affected by counterfeiting activity, such as luxury goods and electronics, often turn to QR code product authentication to provide traceability, enhance consumer confidence, and protect their brand.
While serialised QR codes are capable of identifying and tracing back fake products, secure QR codes offer enhanced security at a higher cost. Secure QR codes feature patterns or micro-graphics to prevent copying, and demand high print quality standards for successful deployment.
Converters looking to expand into these sectors will need to ensure their printing equipment can deliver consistent, reliable results, with some specialist providers of secure, trackable QR codes issuing print process certifications to safeguard the integrity of the secure QR codes they are supplying.
In terms of traceability, converters could also explore services around smart labels using NFC or RFID technology to add further value for brands, as these new technologies are increasingly deployed alongside serialised 2D codes to drive efficiency in supply chain and retail applications.
Conclusion
Converters using digital printing technology to meet the growing demand for 2D codes should explore the potential of value-added services to support their customers and make the most of the new opportunities on offer.
For converters already providing packaging design services as part of their sales process, adding a digital communications element to their offering is only a small step that could deliver great benefits, in terms of revenue as well as enhancing brand-converter relationships.
Of course, no matter if a converter decides to expand their remit into services supporting the adoption of 2D codes, or not, consistent, high-quality print of any packaging codes remains paramount. Well-defined 2D codes, printed and verified by equipment backed by decades of advanced variable data printing expertise, will make a great difference to a brand’s – and converter’s – 2D code success.
Learn more about the impact of the 2D Code Sunrise 2027 on converters in this blog.