From 1 July, Belgian Colruyt Group will require its suppliers to supply their product data via GS1’s data exchange platform. The retailer hopes for more efficiency and a higher quality of data.
One source for master data
Until now, Colruyt Group – like other retailers – receives data from suppliers through a variety of channels, such as its own internal platforms, Excel or even e-mail. This leads to inefficiencies and errors. To streamline data exchange, Colruyt Group is now the first Belgian retailer to rely entirely on GS1’s data network GDSN as the only source for master data exchange. All other sources of information are abolished.
This means that all Colruyt Group suppliers will have to upload their product sheets in the right form and quality in the GS1 platform My Product Manager, which is directly connected to GS1 GDSN. This also applies to private labels. My Product Manager was adapted to include some additional attributes for Colruyt. Together with GS1 Belgilux, Colruyt Group is organising webinars to inform suppliers about the upcoming changes and how to share their data soon.
“Step forward”
“This is an important step forward in our collaboration with suppliers,” says Dimitri Sonck, Retail Product Information area manager at Colruyt Group. “By relying on GDSN as our single source for product information, we aim to create a more efficient and standardised way of working for both suppliers and retailers.”
“This is a step forward for Colruyt and its suppliers. No more separate portals or excels”, CEO Jan Somers of GS1 Belgilux explains. “We also see the same exercise at other retailers. Everyone wants simplicity and quality data.”
