New product or product change?
A new product is defined as a product that does not currently exist or has not been available for sale and is an addition to the brand owner's portfolio / is new to the marketplace.
A product change is an existing product, currently in the brand owner's portfolio and available in the marketplace whose attributes have been changed.
Examples of new products
- A product line is to include a flavour or aroma of a product that does not currently exist in the brand owner’s portfolio, and will be an addition to other flavours or aromas in the portfolio.
- A mobile phone producer is adding a model with new features to its product offering.
- A product's packaging is in English and a Spanish-language-only version of the same product is created.
- A seasonal modification where the consumer/trading partner is expected to be able to uniquely order the product.
- A new television model with new functionalities e.g. WiFi and streaming capabilities
- A new T-shirt line includes various sizes of a particular style and colour of T-shirt ( S, M, L, XL, etc.). Each style, colour and size variation is considered a unique product and is assigned a unique GTIN.
- The vintage (year of production) of a bottle of wine changes such that it is recognised by the consumer as being of different quality than the previous year AND this wine is not handled as “flow-through” or commodity product, rather as a new and unique product.
Examples of product changes
- You change the amount of product declared to be inside a package (net content), but the package dimensions are not changing.
- You change the package dimensions of your product.
- You modify the branding of your product to replace the existing stock in the supply chain.
- You make new marketing declarations on your product.
- You offer a time-critical promotional version of your product.