Barcode requirements are set by retailers, not a governing authority. While not mandatory almost every retailer today requires barcodes on stocked products. Barcodes help retailers organise their pricing, ordering, sales figures, point of sale and inventory. An EAN-13 barcode is a common requirement on all products in a retailer’s inventory. To make sure your product can reach the widest market available it is strongly recommended that you acquire a barcode for your product.