Health Needs Will Drive New Product Data: Wakefern Executive

MICHAEL GARRY

SAN ANTONIO — Consumers’ growing interest in dietary and health information will significantly expand the number of product data attributes that suppliers will need to provide retailers and wholesalers via the data synchronization process, said Michael Durning, manager of data integrity for cooperative wholesaler Wakefern Food Corp., Keasbey, N.J.

Wakefern, which supplies member-owned ShopRite and PriceRite stores, already supports 86 product attributes in its product database, including basic product data like dimensions and weight, up from 25 attributes in 2008, said Durning at a session here yesterday at U Connect 2010, sponsored by GS1 US and VICS. But he is anticipating many more attributes being required.

“Not too far into the future, a consumer will come into a ShopRite store with certain dietary needs and allergy concerns and be able to go to a kiosk [to address them],” he said. “That information has to come from our suppliers, so as time goes by we will be asking for more information of this type.”

Durning is confident in the ability of the data synchronization process formalized through the Global Data Synchronization Network to handle the new information load. “The good thing about data synchronization is that it has the ability to standardize just about any attribute,” he said.

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