I just bought this air purifier. It arrived in a retail-type box with glossy pictures and ad copy printed on the outside, with that box enclosed in a close fitting brown corrugated cardboard shipping box. The outer box was printed with the model number, SKU and other information specific to this particular product, including, surprisingly, a hand-written “carton number”. In addition, on four sides of the box, in very large font, above all the other information, is printed “Barcode is on INNER BOX”.
I’m trying to figure out the purpose of this message. The inner box does indeed have a UPC-type barcode. Why is this not printed on the outer box, since that box is printed with other info specific to the product? Or if the barcode is not needed on the shipping box, why do they need to be so vocal about the fact? I don’t ever recall seeing this message on another product.
I’ve never seen this before either, but I can think of some reasons for it. If the outer box is for shipping, you don’t want any non-shipping-related barcodes on it because they might cause problems during shipping. That’s why Amazon tells you to cover or black out any stray barcodes on boxes when packing items for return.
As for the “Barcode is on inner box” message—it sounds like the outer box was supplied by the manufacturer and packed that way at the factory, under the assumption that it’s mainly going to be sold to online buyers. Somebody at a distribution center might need to access that barcode for inventory purposes, or before it gets shipped out to a buyer. This way they immediately know to open the box rather than waste time looking for it on the outside.
The only explanation I can think of: the manufacturer doesn’t want retailers stocking shelves with the dull overbox still in place - they want retail customers to see the glossy pictures and ad copy.