Buying scanners and a label printer is the easy part. The hard part — getting your warehouse staff to actually use them, and making sure data flows back into ERP the moment something moves on or off a shelf. Below is what we see at clients that got the rollout right, and what we see at those that got it wrong.
Barcodes in a warehouse aren't a new idea. What's new is that in 2026 a fair share of Polish SMEs still count stock "by eye" and receive a delivery by typing 40 lines from the supplier's invoice by hand. Not because they can't afford scanners — they can. Because someone tried once, something didn't click with the ERP, and the topic got parked. Usually for years.
Good news: the cost of a starter kit (2 mobile scanners, a label printer, licenses) fits into a 10–15 thousand złoty budget today. Bad news: that's 20% of the project. The rest is process.
Real example — a 15-person electronics wholesaler
At one of our clients — a 15-person wholesaler of electronic components, about 4,000 SKUs, Comarch Optima as the ERP and a simple warehouse module — the problem was picking errors. A customer would receive a parcel missing an item, or with an item swapped for a neighbouring index (a one-character difference in the code). Returns: on average 6% of orders per month. Each one cost roughly 80 PLN in courier fees plus 40 minutes of a salesperson's time.
After rolling out scanners, labelling shelf locations and integrating with Optima (pick confirmation captured by scanner) errors dropped to 0.4% within three months. Not magic — the warehouse operator can no longer "assume" they grabbed the right index. They have to scan the code on the product label and match it against what the system expects.
Savings: about 25 fewer returns per month — around 3,000 PLN in courier fees plus 16 hours of sales time. Payback: under a year.
Hardware: what to actually buy
The biggest mistake is buying "professional-grade" gear you don't need. An industrial-class Zebra MC3300 scanner costs 6–8 thousand złoty. In a small wholesaler or workshop, cheap budget scanners (300–800 PLN each) will do the job — provided you know what they're for.
Key questions before buying:
- Static or mobile? If the operator stands at a desk scanning supplier invoices, a corded USB scanner for 200 PLN is enough. If they walk between shelves — you need a mobile terminal with a screen and WiFi.
- 1D or 2D? Classic bars (EAN-13) work with every scanner. 2D codes (QR, Data Matrix) — only some. Check whether your suppliers are starting to ship goods with 2D codes (food and pharma sectors already do).
- WiFi coverage in the warehouse? That's a separate project. A mobile scanner without a stable signal is a bag of electronics. Before you order hardware — check that in the furthest corner of the shelving RSSI isn't -85 dBm.
Label printer: thermal transfer, desktop model like the Zebra ZD230 or TSC TE210 (1000–1500 PLN). Labels — synthetic if the goods sit in a cold warehouse; paper if it's dry and warm. Don't mix — every roll change costs 10 minutes.
ERP integration — where it usually breaks
A scanner on its own does nothing. It has to send data to the ERP in a format the ERP understands, and get an answer back: "yes, this is the right index" or "no, it should be a different one". Simple in theory. In practice, the most common traps:
- The ERP has no API for warehouse documents. Comarch Optima, enova365, Subiekt GT — each has different integration options and different limits. Comarch Optima in the base version only offers an API through add-ons. This has to be checked BEFORE buying scanners, not after.
- Double scanning. Classic error: the operator scans a code, the system doesn't respond within a second (because the API round-trips through the ERP), the operator scans again "just in case", and the system records two units. You need a local cache and debouncing at the app level.
- Working offline. What happens when WiFi dies mid-pick? The app should queue operations locally and sync once connectivity is back. Without that, the first WiFi outage puts operators off for good.
- Stock drift. If someone edits stock in the ERP "from the window" at the same time an operator scans a pick, someone loses. Who loses depends on how you designed the conflict rules. You have to design them.
Labelling — the process nobody likes
Scanning only works when every product and every shelf location has a legible label. That sounds trivial, but in practice it means someone has to label the entire warehouse once — and then keep it consistent.
Practical rules that work at our clients:
- Locations code zone-aisle-level-bin (e.g. A-12-3-B). Don't overcomplicate — every extra segment is one more source of error.
- Product label on the pack, not on each unit. If you sell in bulk packs, label the pack, not each screw.
- Internal barcode for goods without an EAN. Not every supplier ships with a ready code. Generate your own (Code 128 or GS1-128) and stick it on at goods receipt.
- Someone owns labelling. One person, two hours a week. Without it, labels start falling off, operators "just for a minute" type things in by hand — and you're back to drift.
Rollout step by step
The order that works:
- Measure the current state. How many picking errors per month? How long does receiving a delivery take? How long a stocktake? Without these numbers you'll never prove the project delivered anything.
- Start with one process. Usually goods receipt — it's the best-defined, has a clear start and end. Only after that add picking, then stocktakes.
- Pilot in one zone. Don't try to label the whole warehouse at once. Pick one zone (e.g. fastest-rotating items), label it, test for a week, learn the lessons.
- Short, hands-on training. One hour with the warehouse team, on the hardware, in the warehouse — not in a meeting room with slides.
- A month of parallel running. For the first month keep the old way as a fallback (paper picklists, manual entries). But agree that after a month it goes away — otherwise people never make the switch.
What not to do
A few mistakes we see over and over:
- Buying scanners with no ERP integration agreed. Kit sits in boxes for 6 months because "we still have to talk to the Optima vendor".
- Labelling "along the way". It never happens. Labelling is a separate project with a deadline.
- Rolling out at peak season. December in e-commerce, March in construction — the worst possible timing. Pick a quiet month.
- No process owner. If "everyone owns" the rollout, nobody handles the small problems that decide whether it works at all.
What next
Barcodes in a warehouse are one of those projects that reveal the whole truth about IT in SMEs: the hardware is cheap and standard, but without people, process and a thought-through ERP integration it doesn't work. You can spend 50 thousand and have idle scanners. You can spend 15 thousand and have a warehouse with 0.4% errors instead of 6%. The difference is in the project, not the budget.
If you want to talk about whether this makes sense in your company — the first call is free. We'll tell you honestly whether scanners are what you need, or whether something else has to be sorted out first.
Scanners by themselves don't reduce errors. What reduces them is a process that no longer lets you "assume" you grabbed the right item.