DatakwaliTijd 2.0: consequences for suppliers

The companies in the GS1 board are clear: there is confusion about the slow progression of the DatakwaliTijd 2.0 programme. After all, its success is in the interest of both retail and industry. However, not all suppliers realise the consequences for not providing the right data via GS1 Data Source yet. 

On behalf of the sector, GS1 is urging suppliers of the Dutch supermarkets and drugstores to have all their product data checked in the GS1 data pool. All retailers in the Netherlands make use of this product data, but so do other parties, such as the Nutrition Centre. Incorrect data is not usable and hurts the image of both retailers and manufacturers. And more importantly: consumers are misinformed, which involves all sorts of risks.

Jerry Tracey, sector manager foodstuffs and drugstores at GS1: “The urgency is high. We need a serious acceleration if we want to have a reliable data pool by the end of 2018. The percentage of reliable item data is growing steadily, but not fast enough. In addition, until now, we have only called for inspection of new and changed items, but we want to have checked all items in the end. It is a project all market parties have signed for: retail, industry, GS1 and the Data Management Services (DMS) that take care of checking the data. Everyone understands the common interest. The FNLI also supports this. And all parties have invested heavily. The signal is that we do not accept that it will take longer. Every supplier’s needs to have all their product data approved before the end of 2018”. 

GS1 will be further simplifying the process by, for instance, ensuring that not all standard packages need to be sent in for inspection. With inspections that often result in frustrations or are unpractical, they will be more pragmatic. There will also be a fixed deadline per supplier on which their checks need to be ready. “They will all be informed about that”, Jerry continues. “Retailers have agreed to put more pressure on their suppliers to have their data approved. If that doesn’t help, the ultimate consequence is that they will not be able to use our data pool anymore, and thus, not be able to provide information to their retailers.” The consequences of that differ per retailer, but most of their purchasing conditions state that data needs to be provided via the GS1 data pool. “How they will deal with that is up to the retail, and not up to GS1, but GS1 will no longer be solving the problem for those suppliers.”

What to do?

“Conclude a contract with a DMS before 1 July 2018”, Jerry advises. “Contact the GS1 account manager, they can provide custom advice. Properly prepare the data check and schedule the inspections with the DMS. And most of all: do not wait until the last week before the deadline. Start now.”

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