Retail Barcode Labels Alternative: Migrating to Barcodeman
Shopify's Retail Barcode Labels app is a great starting point, but you hit its ceiling the first time you need a Rollo, a Zebra, a custom size, or a metafield. Here's when — and how — to switch.
Shopify’s own Retail Barcode Labels app is free, official, and the right place to start if you have a DYMO LabelWriter and simple product labels. The moment you need a different printer, a custom label size, or data beyond product name + price + barcode, it stops being enough. If you’re searching for a Retail Barcode Labels alternative for your Shopify store, Barcodeman is built for the scenarios the official app doesn’t cover.
This guide compares the two apps honestly, shows exactly where the official one hits its ceiling, and walks through a four-step migration you can run side-by-side without disrupting the store.
What Retail Barcode Labels does well
Credit where due: Retail Barcode Labels is free, maintained by Shopify, and requires zero learning curve. If your setup is:
- A DYMO LabelWriter (30334, 30252, or similar)
- Basic product labels with name + barcode + price
- Small batches printed from the product page
…you don’t need a different app. Keep the free one. Everything below only matters if you’ve already pressed against one of its walls.
Where it stops working
The app is narrow by design. Here are the common walls merchants hit.
| Need | Retail Barcode Labels | Barcodeman |
|---|---|---|
| DYMO LabelWriter presets | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rollo / Zebra / Brother thermal printers | Limited | ✓ |
| Custom label sizes in mm or inches | ✕ | ✓ |
| CSV bulk import | ✕ | ✓ |
| Metafield data on labels | ✕ | ✓ |
| QR codes alongside barcodes | ✕ | ✓ |
| Scan-to-print a single label in seconds | ✕ | ✓ |
| Multi-column Avery / sheet labels | Limited | ✓ |
Some rows — like Shopify’s official app support for custom printers or orders — may evolve over time, and you should verify the latest capability against the current app before switching. The common walls that push merchants toward Barcodeman today are custom label sizes, non-DYMO printers, and metafield data on the label.
If your current pain is in the ✕ column — “I have a Rollo, none of the sizes fit,” “we need to print from an order, not one SKU at a time,” “customers ask for metafields on the label” — you’ve outgrown the free app. Keep reading.
Four-step migration plan
You can run both apps simultaneously. There’s no uninstall-first requirement, and your products and barcodes in Shopify are the same data both apps read from.
1. Install Barcodeman alongside Retail Barcode Labels
Two apps, one store. No conflicts, and no data migration step — both apps read your existing products and variants directly from Shopify.
2. Rebuild your current label template in Barcodeman
Open Barcodeman’s template editor and create a new template. Set the width and height in mm or inches to match the label you’re already printing on. Drag in a barcode element and link it to the variant’s barcode or SKU field. Add text elements for product name, price, variant, whatever your old label showed.
Most merchants rebuild a typical label in about ten minutes. If you have a Rollo or a Zebra and couldn’t use your real label size in the old app, this is where that stops being a workaround.
3. Test print with the same Shopify products
Pick a product you’ve printed before. Generate a label with Barcodeman. Compare it against the Retail Barcode Labels output for the same product. The barcode value should match exactly — both apps read the same Shopify variant record.
If the print dialog, paper size, and margins are all set correctly, the physical label should come out readable and scannable on the first try. See the printer setup guide if not.
4. Uninstall Retail Barcode Labels when you’re confident
After a week or two of parallel use, uninstall the old app. The Shopify product data stays; only the app’s stored templates go away.
What carries over and what doesn’t
Stays the same:
- All your Shopify products and variants
- The
BarcodeandSKUfields on each variant - Your Shopify POS setup and order history
- Every physical label you’ve already printed — they keep scanning
Needs redoing:
- Label template design — rebuilt manually in Barcodeman, since DYMO presets don’t export into a portable format
- Any print history or batch counts specific to the old app
The rebuild is the only real “migration” work. Everything else is data that lives in Shopify, independent of whichever label app is asking for it.
Things to watch during the switch
- Units. If your old template was in inches and you enter mm in Barcodeman by accident, the label is wildly the wrong size. Double-check the unit toggle.
- Barcode format. Retail Barcode Labels defaults to Code 128; Barcodeman defaults there too. If you had switched to EAN-13 or UPC-A in the old app, set Barcodeman to match. See the barcode format guide if you’re not sure.
- Print dialog settings. Zebra, Rollo, and Brother all have their own quirks — see the Rollo setup guide, Zebra setup guide, or Brother QL guide for your specific printer.
Frequently asked questions
Is Retail Barcode Labels being discontinued?
No. Shopify maintains it and there’s no announced sunset. The comparison here is about capability, not a shutdown timeline. (Stocky is a different story — see the Stocky shutdown guide.)
Which printers work with Barcodeman that don’t work with Retail Barcode Labels?
Rollo (every model), Zebra (ZD410, ZD420, ZD421, LP series, GK series), Brother QL (QL-800, QL-810W, QL-1110NWB, and older), plus many other thermal printers — essentially anything that accepts PDF through the OS print dialog. The official Shopify app is built around DYMO’s label catalogue.
Can I run Retail Barcode Labels and Barcodeman at the same time?
Yes, and we recommend it for the first week or two. Test Barcodeman against the same products and printers, then uninstall the old app once you’re confident.
Does Barcodeman cost money?
The Free plan prints up to 100 labels per month. Most small Shopify stores stay under that threshold indefinitely. The Starter plan is $7.99/month for unlimited labels. See pricing for details.
Does Barcodeman work with Shopify POS?
Yes. Barcodeman generates PDFs and prints through the system print dialog, which means it works from any device that can reach Shopify POS — desktop, tablet, iPad. For the retail counter workflow, see Variant-Aware Scan-to-Print.
Will my existing label templates from Retail Barcode Labels import into Barcodeman?
Not as a direct 1:1 import. You rebuild the template in Barcodeman’s editor — it takes about ten minutes for a typical label. The upside: while rebuilding, most merchants make the small improvements they’d been wanting (a better font, a metafield, a cleaner price block) because the editor actually allows it.
Start the switch
If the official app has stopped fitting your workflow, install Barcodeman alongside it from the Shopify App Store. Free plan, side-by-side with Retail Barcode Labels, no migration risk. Rebuild your first template, run a test batch on your actual printer, and decide from there.
For deeper reading on whichever printer you have, the Rollo, Zebra, and Brother QL setup guides cover the specific gotchas each brand has on Shopify.