NEWS EXTRA
The strategic partnership between the BMF and NMBS to launch an Industry Data Pool provides an opportunity to futureproof the sector’s use of data. Fiona Russell Horne finds out more.
THE INDUSTRY DATA POOL, a strategic partnership between the Builders Merchants Federation and National Merchant Buying Society will provide an industry-owned resource containing high-quality, business and e-commerce- friendly product information for the building materials sector. Among the very real benefits will be centralised product data management for improved accuracy, consistency and accessibility to trusted product data; enhancing supply chain efficiency through seamless exchange of data, and supporting the increased regulatory compliance and data transparency requirements. The joint venture will be managed by Building Materials Digital Services Ltd (BMDS) , a non-profit entity equally owned by the BMF and NMBS.
Data experience BMDS’s newly appointed managing director is Gareth Thomas, who comes with extensive experience in data management and business change, much of it gained during a 26-year career with B&Q and their parent company, Kingfisher. He previously spearheaded the UK launch of the product data pool solution at EZ-base UK, a data pool for the tools and hardware sector, very similar to the IDP.
He says: “At B&Q, data was the thing I spent most of my time trying to sort out. Stock availability issues, having the wrong price, the incorrect product dimensions impacted business operations; poor data was the thing that flowed through everything. It taught me that if you can get that
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INDUSTRY INITIATIVE TO CHANGE THE DATA GAME
Through the Summer the IDP will be working with a set of suppliers and merchants who have expressed an interest in getting involved, stress testing the system, making sure that it is configured properly. In Autumn, the plan is to begin onboarding suppliers in earnest, as well as any merchants who want to get on board and start using the platform in its early days.
part right, then your business will have a better chance of succeeding.”
Thomas explains that the IDP will create a centralised product data exchange, around a digital platform, which can provide anyone in the industry with consistent, efficient and accurate product data. “That data includes everything from the Master Data, the GTIN (barcode), the description, to the digital assets like the images, height, depth, packaging information and attributes like the clothing size, the colour, or the power supply, right through to more recent data sets round sustainability,” he says. The problem of data
incompatibility has been around for years, and there have been various initiatives to try and solve it. “Every merchant, every buying group, every national chain has a different data structure. So do the suppliers. This collective effort to acquire and share product data once by working work together it’s a huge opportunity and a big- time saver in terms of people’s efforts. Effort which could be put to better use, more commercial, more customer focused activities, along with the opportunity to boost growth by having a base
line of data that we can all use and share. That opportunity is exciting.”
The work isn’t starting from scratch, as three years ago, the BMF launched the Product Data Standardisation Template project, and Thomas says that the organisation has already done a huge amount of foundational work, with a wide set of inputs from across the industry. “This has led us to an agreement about what data we want, and how we want it structured, for example adopting the ETIM standards. We all agree that Excel isn’t the right tool for this to grow; a new data platform solution – through the IDP - will digitise that and make the sharing of data easier.” The plan is to encourage shareholders and key member of the industry to help shape the way that the IDP will develop. Thomas says, “We know that the issues won’t be solved overnight. This is, however, a starting point for something that will ensure accurate data in the future for the industry. It’s a journey that the industry must be on, but it does require everyone to be on it together. It won’t fix everything that needs to be fixed today, but it will fix something today, more things tomorrow and even further down the line.”
Merchant input Thomas says: “The strongest voices are likely to be the merchants, telling suppliers ‘I only want your data if I can get it from the IDP’. That’s far more powerful than me telling them come and join our platform. It doesn’t mean that we are only interested in the larger merchants either. Everyone’s voice matters in this. Anyone who does want to get involved or would like to know more should contact me, and we can take it from there.”
He says that the initiative will move the industry to one consistent data set, with less time chasing suppliers for data on a spreadsheet, improving productivity by increasing the focus on trading and customers. It will also mean the industry can better work with other data-driven initiatives such as the Code for Construction Product Information, an industry development in the wake of the Grenfell fire to ensure consistent, accurate data.
“Having that consistent, accurate, accessible base layer of data will allow us to do better things. If we can get it right, it will be a game changer for everybody.” BMJ
E:
gareth.thomas@
bmds-idp.com
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net May 2025
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