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Building the Foundation for Accurate Promotions and Digital Coupons: GTIN Fundamentals

Tuesday, February 24 at 1 PM EST

Widespread misunderstanding of Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs)—often referred to as UPCs—continues to be a root cause of data integrity issues across digital coupons, 8112, load-to-card, rebates, family code structures, and other promotional programs. Even experienced manufacturers, agencies, and promotion partners frequently struggle with GTIN structure, terminology, and standards, leading to validation failures, retailer mismatches, and shopper friction at checkout.

This foundational educational webinar is designed to level-set the industry on GTIN basics, with a standards-first approach grounded in GS1 best practices. Rather than diving into promotion mechanics, this session focuses on ensuring attendees clearly understand what a GTIN is (and is not), how it is constructed, and what constitutes a complete and accurate GTIN as the single source of truth.

Attendees will learn:

• What a GTIN is and how it relates to the term “UPC”
• The components of GTIN construction, including indicator digit, company prefix, item reference, and check digit
• Key differences between GTIN-12, GTIN-13, and GTIN-14
• The distinction between barcode formats and the underlying GTIN
• Why GTINs are structured identifiers—not randomly assigned numbers
• Why GTIN-14 is the GS1-recommended standard for storage and communication

The webinar will also connect GTIN fundamentals to real-world promotion challenges, highlighting common errors seen across the industry, the downstream impact of incomplete or manipulated GTINs, and how manufacturers—regardless of outsourced data management—remain ultimately responsible for GTIN accuracy. Practical “watch-outs” will help attendees recognize when GTIN data is missing elements such as leading zeros or check digits and how to address non-standard requests without compromising data integrity.

2025 Conference

A summary of the conference and all of the presentation PDFs are now available at couponpros.org/library
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Non-Members: Complete this form to request access

Universal Coupons

To mitigate fraud, simplify consumer experience and reduce settlement time- the industry has established a new coupon format, AI (8112) or “Universal Coupons” to replace the current AI (8110) coupon type. The Coupon Bureau is an industry-managed, Nonprofit that is the facilitator of the Universal Coupon ecosystem. For retailers this new standard is groundbreaking… No more counterfeit coupons, no more waiting weeks for settlement and with 3rd Party validation- no longer are your cashiers in the hotseat with shoppers.

What is the ACP?

The Association for Coupons & Promotions provides manufacturers and retailers with education and valued insights to effectively execute coupon promotions from development through settlement.  This is accomplished by providing resources to industry professionals on coupon guidelines, new trends, emerging technologies and best practices including forums for coupon education.

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