GS1 US Publishes Guideline to Help Grocers Share Product Attributes

GS1 US has released a new retail grocery industry guideline called the “GS1 US Guidance for Sharing Product Attributes via GDSN in Retail Grocery” for users of the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN), an interoperable network that allows brands to share product data with their customers and trading partners. The guideline offers best practices for sharing product details and descriptions to help trading partners keep pace with the growing consumer and industry demand for complete and accurate product information. It was developed by the GS1 US Retail Grocery Initiative Product Information and Images Workgroup, which is comprised of retailers, manufacturers, distributors and solution providers working to address product information and image sharing challenges by applying GS1 Standards.

“The guideline provides a roadmap for using GS1 Standards to convey detailed product information,” says Angela Fernandez, vice president of retail grocery and foodservice, GS1 US. “Industry leaders rely on GDSN to exchange crucial information ranging from trading partner details to consumer facing attributes. By leveraging GDSN as one source of the truth, they can more effectively fuel the online product listings and seamless e-commerce experiences that consumers have come to expect.”

The document supplements the GDSN Retail Grocery Attribute Interactive Spreadsheet Tool, which provides exact product attribute definitions and classifications for GDSN users. The guideline offers more specific guidance to help increase consistency and ease of implementation of the tool by explaining GDSN terminology, various functions and providing real-world examples of its use. Major topics included in the guideline include technical GDSN terminology such as element naming and code lists, hierarchy information, units of measurement, attribute pairing and more. 

The guideline is available at http://www.gs1us.org/RGGDSNguide and more information about the GS1 US Retail Grocery Initiative can be found at www.gs1us.org/retailgrocery.