For some time, dominating market participants in the retail sector have had highly integrated supply chains. The lack of consistent product information across the supply chain has hindered this integration which has lead to new industry initiatives to synchronize product data across the supply chain. Several large retail store chains (e.g. Wal-Mart) have set their suppliers a deadline to support international standards within the next year.
An effective Product Information Management program along with data synchronization is a decisive factor in dealing with trading partners. A UDEX analysis reveals that around 75% of all end-consumer article product information and 57% of product attributes of commodities are inconsistent and inaccurate. This inconsistency results in a lower productivity as every article has to be re-edited manually. The time lost, approximately 25 minutes per article, can lead to delayed product launches and to losses in sales and market share.
By using centralized Product Information Management (PIM) solutions it is guaranteed that the product information in all company sectors is accurate and complete (up to attribute level) - regardless of the fact from which organizational unit or source the data come from.
(Source: UDEX)
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