Interview
What are some of the challenges that wholesalers and suppliers might face along their data
journey? What support do you off er?
Onboarding manufacturers can be a long process, especially as the quality of the data improves. We run a series of workshops called ‘Going for Gold’, for the data managers of our manufacturer members. It’s an opportunity for them to engage in one-on-one discussions, to meet their opposite numbers at similar businesses, to discuss data challenges and industry changes, and to share tips and best practice in small groups.
The fallout from the Grenfell tragedy and the Hackitt report has created a lot of pressure in the sector, and especially manufacturers, to focus on the quality of their product data and to accurately refl ect the standards and compliances to which their products conform. The investment made in EDATA will be a sound basis for their longer term product data processes.
with their customers in sales quotes and project submissions. Product data is such a valuable resource, and it makes sense to maximise its usage to further support wholesalers. Wholesalers benefi t from smoother, quicker and more effi cient working processes, and manufacturers benefi t because it gives them extra brand visibility. We are now working on similar links with other leading industry ERP systems
ewnews.co.uk
What are your aims for the next 12 months for EDATA? With over 250,000 SKUs on EDATA , it is now a comprehensive database, and so our focus now is on building up quality. We’re in a growth phase, focusing on boosting wholesaler usage of the data by encouraging behavioural change. We expect to reach 300,000 SKUs this year, and we are aiming to add new data pertaining to sustainability, such as packaging materials, to all our SKUs. This is increasingly being asked for by wholesalers.
In 2024 we’d like to have over 100 May 2024 electrical wholesaler | 31
manufacturers from our key target list joined up with EDATA. I think we will easily make this. We are targeting fi rms in the renewables sector - this is a signifi cant growth area and we are keen to have these manufacturers on board. We are also continuing to collaborate with other trade associations across the sector to ensure our activity is in line with the rest of the industry and possibly open up new opportunities for access to the EDATA data pool.
EDATA is a data pool for manufacturers to share product information,
including images, with wholesalers and distributors.
EDATA is an industry-owned resource of high quality, ecommerce-friendly, manufacturers’ product data for Electrical Wholesalers to use in their web sites and digital business processes.
Includes manufacturers’ master data, digital assets and technical data classifi ed according to the international ETIM standard.
Product data is owned and managed by the manufacturers, enabling it to be tracked back to a credible source. Data is independently monitored for quality, best practice and conformance with data standards. EDATA is a not-for-profi t enterprise, with costs and benefi ts shared by all who subscribe. Manufacturers and wholesalers make a fair contribution to cover its management and development costs.
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