All products are labeled with bar codes these days. Even the smallest retail items, like chocolates or pencils, have a unique bar code to identify them accurately. Bar codes have specific symbology that is defined in the height and width of the bars as well as the spacing between the bars. Each of these bars might represent numeric data, alphanumeric data or character data, depending on the type of symbology being used.

Each bar code has a start bar and an end bar to allow the scanner to read the data precisely. Some bar codes have another bar before the end bar, known as the checksum bar code. After the scanner calculates the sum, the same is verified with the value of the checksum bar code for accuracy. This ensures exact calculation with minimal errors.

Bar codes help during data collection, inventory tracking, and other asset tracking. They keep accurate records of all the items scanned, and so are a big help keeping track of inventory.

Specific bar code software called inventory software is the best option to keep track of inventory. This software is more complex than the data collection software that keeps records in databases. Inventory software can keep track of various items simultaneously, so that the software would be able to record the number of items in each category in a company. This software is particularly useful in warehouses and wholesale storage places wherein the company needs to have an idea of the number of items of each category owned at a specific time. The number of items being supplied to the retailers would get stored in the database by the software, to minimize the chance of errors.

Blood banks, pharmacies, and other manufacturers that mass-produce a variety of products would find this inventory software a boon. Inventory software, like the regular bar code data collection and tracking software, come with a number of utilities to make work easier. Report creation tools, databases, data entry tools, printing tools, and other functional software comes as part of the inventory software suite.

Bar code inventory software can be used with any scanner technology. It depends on the affordability and the customers preference.