Purpose

Depending on the 365 products you are using and the client sites where they are installed, there may be occasions where market cards are needed for consumer account identification. Market cards can provide fast and accurate recognition of a consumer through a barcode scanner.

Below are the guidelines that 365 Retail Markets recommends when printing your own market cards. These guidelines ensure maximum compatibility with 365’s current and future products.

365 Recommendations

• Use a barcode length of 13 to 21 characters
  
  
• Use at least one letter as a prefix to minimize confusion with product barcodes. 
  • This can mean using a symbology/ barcode format such as "Code128" or "Code39". These formats can support alphanumeric storage, including all letters and numbers, and are different from the barcode formats used on product packaging.
    
    
• Print the barcode value underneath the barcode itself for manual recognition
  
  
• Keep the cards in numeric order to prevent duplicate card values across your entire client base. Additionally, we recommend:
  • Ordering from the printer in batches.
  • Indicating the start and end range of each batch every time the cards are printed. Knowing that you have to start new batches from the last batch’s ending range is very important in preventing duplicate cards.
    
    
• Always print barcodes in black ink on white backgrounds
  
  
• Use a good print shop with proper equipment. Barcodes must be printed very precisely on a laser or equivalent printer.
  
  
• Create key ring tags rather than full-size cards. Full size cards are not used as much and lost much more frequently.
  
  
• Do NOT reissue cards from previous consumer accounts (aka recycling cards). When consumers leave a client, allow them to keep the card or destroy it.