Shopify to Support Multiple Barcodes Per Variant, But API Still Returns One

Shopify is preparing to expand its barcode field to hold up to 20 values per product variant, a significant change from the current single-string limitation. The update matters because GS1 standards require distinct GTINs for each packaging level — individual units use EAN-13 barcodes, while cases and cartons require separate ITF-14 identifiers. A purchase order for 240 units, for example, correctly generates 240 item labels, 24 inner labels, and 2 carton labels — three different outputs from one input figure. Until the API is updated to return multiple values, developers are storing inner and carton GTINs in Shopify metafields, which hold the data but enforce none of the packaging hierarchy logic. Using a fallback GTIN across packaging levels is flagged as a critical error, since a mislabeled carton scanning as a single unit can cause downstream warehouse mistakes.