November 14, 2025 Industry news
Earlier this year, we launched a new version of My Numberbank, built on Microsoft Azure and designed around what members told us they need most: a faster, simpler way to allocate identifiers, generate barcodes and share trusted product data with partners. Today, it manages more than 200 million digital assets for our 60,000 members across retail, healthcare, construction and pharma. It is secure, always on and globally scalable, representing a step forward for everyday tasks and a foundation for where commerce is heading next.
This investment is part of our commitment to power a world of possibilities for our members, creating platforms that enable growth, innovation and trusted data in an increasingly connected economy.
Why we rebuilt
Our members’ businesses are more digital and more demanding than ever. Product set up spans marketplaces, retail, healthcare, construction and beyond, while listings change quickly and partners expect data to be right first time.
Before My Numberbank, identifier management could be fragmented, manual and error prone, which created duplication, compliance risks and delays in getting products to market.
In our three year strategy, we committed to powering a world of possibilities by investing in core platforms that keep pace with change and help members adapt, thrive and make demonstrable improvements. The new My Numberbank is a central part of that commitment.
What’s different for members
The new My Numberbank brings the tasks you do most often into clear, guided workflows:
- Allocate identifiers in real time: assign GTINs and GLNs with built in checks to reduce duplication and common errors, then download barcodes that meet GS1 specifications
- Work smarter from the dashboard: view prefixes, recent activity and items needing attention at a glance, with quick actions for common tasks
- Import and export at scale: use updated templates for bulk uploads and downloads so teams can work quickly across systems
- Governance you can see: track audit trails and apply role-based permissions to understand who changed what and when, and give colleagues the right level of access
We have also aligned completeness indicators to the data attributes currently required to share with Verified by GS1, so you can focus on what trading partners need most, with a clear path for mapping and migration from the previous service.
Our goal was to make identifier management effortless while raising the bar on governance and security. My Numberbank gives members a single, reliable place to allocate, manage and share identifiers, and the confidence that the data behind every barcode is accurate and trusted.”
Mark Gillott
Standards and solutions director, GS1 UK
Early impact
Since the phased roll out began, engagement has been strong. From 20 January to 14 August 2025, 73,237 active users engaged with My Numberbank, including 52,875 returning users, with an average engagement time of 25 minutes 48 seconds. Members created 1,039,163 identifiers, including 951,186 GTIN 13s. They completed 41,869 bulk exports and 22,163 bulk imports, downloaded 191,394 barcodes and made 76,569 submissions to Verified by GS1. Across sectors, the benefits are already clear.
Retailers are accelerating speed to shelf with fewer duplicates. NHS suppliers are improving patient safety by strengthening product identification. Construction firms are standardising identifiers for materials and components, which reduces rework and improves data sharing.
The QWARE team receiving their award
We designed and engineered the new platform with our technology partner QWARE. Together, we rebuilt from the ground up as a cloud native service on Microsoft Azure, combining resilience, usability and compliance with security and ISO 27001 principles built in.
We were very proud to see QWARE’s work on My Numberbank recognised at the South Coast Tech and Innovation Awards 2025, where they were named Tech SME of the Year.
The judges praised their enthusiasm, technically challenging work, client-first mindset and success against major tech competitors in tenders. This was well-deserved recognition of the high bar set throughout the programme.
A foundation for what comes next
My Numberbank is part of a wider programme to modernise our core systems and support members through the next decade of change. In parallel, we are helping industry transition to QR codes powered by GS1, the next generation of barcodes that link a product’s identity to rich, real time content while still going beep at the till.
As outlined in our strategy, QR codes powered by GS1 will transform the way businesses share information, meet regulatory demands and connect with their consumers. My Numberbank’s governance and data sharing capabilities are designed to support that journey. The platform’s elastic Azure infrastructure provides long term scalability and supports our sustainability goals. Looking ahead, we are exploring AI driven duplication prevention and identity protection for QR codes powered by GS1, helping members stay ahead as commerce evolves.
Sometimes, ready-made software solutions do not address the true needs of a business, and in such cases, businesses need to think outside the box. Our valued engagement with GS1 UK to build them their very own MyNumberBank platform as a cloud-first solution, empowered us on a journey of discovery and collaboration with them, to deliver something fully bespoke and truly aligned to their business goals."
Mark Cooper
Chief solutions architect, QWARE
Getting started and getting more from your membership
- Explore the essentials - our Welcome to My Numberbank guide walks you through the dashboard, allocations, bulk tools and audit so you can get productive quickly
- Catch up on what’s new - read our news on platform improvements, including the refreshed dashboard, enhanced product fields, new import and export templates and sharing data globally with Verified by GS1
- Understand the transition - if you used the previous service, this explainer covers attribute changes, how data maps into the new service and how completeness is shown now
- Join a live session - "Getting started with My Numberbank" runs on Thursday 27 November 2025, 11:00am to 12:00pm (virtual). It’s perfect for teams who want practical tips and Q&A
