Unilever and Nestlé have become the first suppliers to sign commercial contracts for using GS1’s productDNA and are now actively using the service to help launch their new products with Tesco and Ocado who have already started implementing productDNA within their businesses.
Both of these brands were part of the leading group of suppliers and retailers announced in 2017, committed to an industry charter for a common approach to improving the quality and consistency of product data management.
productDNA is the result of the retail industry getting together to agree a common language for products, being created “for the industry, by the industry.” Key benefits of the new productDNA service for the UK grocery industry include:
- A common data model for all retailers using a set of agreed product attributes
- A simpler, faster product catalogue shared between suppliers and retailers
- Third party verification to improve the quality of product data
GS1 UK is managing productDNA on behalf of the industry, through the Retail Grocery Advisory Board, whose members represent almost 80% of the UK retail grocery market.
The product data is owned by suppliers, without any third-party commercial constraints, with all the data attributes follow rules established by GS1 global standards. The data model has been created by the industry members to support the introduction of new product lines. Further product data attributes to support e-commerce and helping shoppers make better informed decisions on the products they are buying will be added later in 2018.
“Our industry members have clearly understood that shoppers are increasingly looking for additional and better information about the products they are buying whilst at the same time suppliers want to ensure that their brands and products are well communicated in the market. We’re delighted that Nestlé and Unilever have helped create the productDNA service and will be the first to start using it to share the data about their wonderful products with retailers and shoppers alike”.
– Gary Lynch, CEO, GS1 UK
Features of productDNA
Trusted data
Independent verification means you can trust the product data. There’s no need to spend time double checking.
Easy access
Simple, flexible, time-and-cost-efficient access to product info.
Early access
You get faster access to accurate data when introducing new product lines.
Automated
When a supplier changes product information, the system updates automatically. So all data is current and accurate.
Ready to go
productDNA integrates easily with existing systems using sophisticated, easy to use APIs.
Fairly priced
A pricing model that has been agreed by the community, to benefit the whole industry.
