The first barcode, with a design like a bullseye, was invented in 1948 by two Drexel University students named Norman J Woodland and Bernard Silver. They were interested in tackling the problems of the supermarket industry, which sorely needed a better method of inventory management and customer check-out.

When were barcodes first widely used?

Barcoding was first used commercially in 1966, but to make the system acceptable to the industry as a whole there would have to be some sort of industry standard. By 1970, Logicon Inc. had developed the Universal Grocery Products Identification Code (UGPIC).

When was the barcode first used in the UK?

It's been four decades since the first barcode was scanned in the UK on 2 October 1979. While that might not seem like a big deal in the general scheme of things, it helped to usher in the beginning of a new age of modern commerce.