Retailers set 2007 as global data deadline

Manufacturers supplying Asda, Tesco and Makro will be expected to publish their product data in a standards-compliant data pool by the end of next year as retailers step up efforts to drive bad data out of the supply chain.

A series of data pools - giant electronic catalogues, describing products in a standardised way - has been set up across the globe.

Suppliers participating in this global data synchronisation network (GDSN) only have to publish information about new or updated products once using agreed global standards. This enables retailers to automatically update corresponding data in their systems at the click of a button, ensuring everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.

Tesco, which called 500 suppliers to its head office last October to explain its data synchronisation strategy, said discrepancies between the data held in retailers' and suppliers' IT systems led to stock shortages and invoice disputes, causing "service failure and re-work throughout the supply chain"

Ultimately, participating in the GDSN would become a condition of doing business with major retailers, so suppliers needed to get to grips with it now, warned Alaster Purchase, a business manager at GS1 UK, the supply chain standards body.

"Retailers will be holding events and one-to-one meetings with suppliers this year to drive awareness," he said. "We're also looking at running road shows to explain what GDSN is."

While leading manufacturers, such as Kraft and Unilever, were leading the initiative from the supplier side, GDSN would not just benefit large firms, claimed Parminder Basran, business controller at the medium-sized Authentic Food Company: "We will be able to increase the accuracy of our orders and invoicing, thus saving administrative time, eliminating errors and helping us to improve our relationships with customers."