A retailers group endorsed bar-code technology.

As expected, the National Retail Merchants Assn. endorsed the use of universal product code--the black and white vertical stripes that have appeared for years on grocery products--for use by the group’s members, which include 45,000 department and specialty stores, mass merchants and general merchandisers. Bullock’s in Sherman Oaks has led a campaign to win support for the use of bar codes, which are read by laser devices that automatically record price and inventory information.