Understanding what’s at stake

For grocers, retailers, distributors and foodservice companies, FSMA 204 means capturing and maintaining detailed data from every supplier. This includes Key Data Elements (KDEs) like lot codes, harvest dates and critical tracking events. While compliance is essential, standardized and accurate data also plays a key role in recall management and daily operations.

Consider a typical scenario: Your suppliers range from large producers with sophisticated systems to small suppliers relying on spreadsheets. When a safety issue arises, your team must quickly trace affected products across your network. Without standardized data, this process can take days instead of hours, putting operational efficiency, customer safety and your reputation at risk.

Poor traceability impacts every aspect of your business. Inconsistent and inaccurate data leads to inventory challenges like overstocking or stockouts, while inefficient recall processes can escalate into costly crises. Most importantly, inadequate traceability undermines consumer confidence and brand loyalty.

The importance of supplier buy-in

Success requires making traceability manageable for suppliers of all sizes. Leading companies are taking practical steps like:

• Implementing uniform processes for recording and reporting traceability data
• Using automation to minimize errors and enable real-time data exchange
• Setting clear expectations and guidelines for accurate traceability data
• Supporting suppliers with training and implementation resources

By automating data capture through standard business documents like purchase orders, ASNs and barcodes, companies can help suppliers maintain consistent data formats while protecting their brand.

SPS Commerce and iFoodDS: A collaborative solution

Recognizing the need for enhanced traceability and supply chain visibility, SPS Commerce has partnered with iFoodDS to expand our retail cloud service offerings. Through integration with iFoodDS Trace Exchange™, we provide a comprehensive solution that supports the largest grocers, retailers, distributors and foodservice companies, along with their supplier networks.

With a high-tech, high-touch approach, our combined solution simplifies data collection and standardizes traceability processes across your trading partner network. Our team works with suppliers of all sizes and technical capabilities to drive successful participation and efficient FSMA 204 compliance.

For more information about how SPS Commerce and iFoodDS can enhance your traceability and supply chain visibility, visit SPS Commerce or iFoodDS.

This creates a complex balancing act for retailers who need to keep shelves stocked with the right products at the right price while also reducing their environmental impact. Miss either mark and retailers risk losing sales, customer loyalty and brand value.

Why sustainability matters now

Modern consumers are pushing retailers to think differently about how products move through the supply chain. But the shift toward sustainability isn’t just coming from consumer pressure. Here are other factors driving change:

• Supplier business practices matter more than ever, as retailers need partners who share their commitment to sustainability and can support a green supply chain.
• Investor pressure continues to grow, as environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors become key drivers in investment decisions.
• New regulations mandate that large organizations report on their environmental practices, including the emissions stemming from their supply chains.
• Supply chain risk management has taken on new importance, with sustainability helping protect against disruptions from environmental issues, regulatory changes and social concerns.

Collaboration is key

The sustainability challenge extends far beyond a retailer’s own operations. To achieve sustainability goals, retailers must collaborate closely with their suppliers. According to CDP, supply chain emissions are typically 11.4 times higher than operational emissions. While nearly 70% of retailers are already working with suppliers to improve sustainability, retailers face two significant hurdles: getting accurate supplier data and driving meaningful supplier engagement.

That’s where the partnership between SPS Commerce and Optera comes in. The Retail Sustainability Collective combines over 20 years of supplier network expertise from SPS with Optera’s leadership in supply chain emissions management. The partnership applies a proven data collection framework to sustainability metrics, creating a streamlined approach for both retailers and suppliers.

For retailers, this partnership delivers:

• Comprehensive primary emissions data across their entire supplier network, moving beyond category averages
• A unified solution that bridges sustainability and procurement teams
• Expert support for supplier outreach and response validation

Actionable insights for emissions reduction based on actual supplier data

Suppliers benefit from:

• A single, standardized data process for sharing emissions data with their retail customer network
• Built-in calculation tools for companies new to emissions reporting
• Valuable benchmarking insights to improve sustainability performance

The journey toward sustainable supply chains requires both expertise and scale. Through the SPS Commerce and Optera partnership, retailers can build resilient, efficient and environmentally responsible supply chains that meet both customer expectations and corporate sustainability goals.

For more information about the Retail Sustainability Collective pilot program, contact Scott Williams at scott.williams@spscommerce.com.

Optera helps corporations measure, manage, and reduce their carbon emissions up and down their value chains, backed by comprehensive and trusted data. Learn more.

• What is assortment planning?
• Why is assortment planning important?
• Where does assortment planning fit in your overall process?
• Key factors to consider when developing an assortment plan
• How to build an assortment plan
• Assortment planning tools and software
• Assortment Planning with SPS Commerce

What is assortment planning?

Assortment planning is how retailers choose the goods they’re going to have on offer at any given time.

The aim is to have the right amount of stock, conveniently placed, to meet customers’ needs while also fulfilling the retailer’s financial objectives.

Successful assortment planning drives return custom and minimizes waste to increase sales volumes, profit and conversion rates among other metrics.

Key considerations for effective assortment planning include:

• Localities and regional differences: local regions and stores will need different products based on the culture and demographics in the area. For example, this may include foods, drinks, or other products that prove particularly popular in select areas. It may also mean stocking ingredients for regional cuisine or products aimed towards the age and income level of those in the region, or even products based on the physical location itself. For example, stocking a range of sunscreen products in hot regions, and a shallower range of products in colder areas.
• Demand: retailers need to tabulate the number of each product they sell each month – and accurately forecast future sales – and organize their supply chains to meet and capitalize on demand. 
• Seasonality of goods: tailoring stock to reflect seasonal changes is key. For example, convenience stores might stock more window scrapers and de-icer for cars in the winter months, while prioritizing barbecues, charcoal, and kindling for the summer months. Similarly, clothes stores refresh their offering each season.
• Brand strategy and sales margin history: historic data is vital for retailers to understand product performance and manage growth. Depending on how the business operates, its target demographics, sales history, and profitability, they will need to plan in line with historic performance and forecasting to increase profit margins and avoid waste.

Why is assortment planning important?

When it comes to boosting the bottom line, assortment planning plays a critical role in a retailer’s in-store business management plan.

Without adequate planning, retailers risk under-stocking highly demanded products and overstocking underperforming ones – immediately putting them at a loss and a disadvantage against competitors.

Shoppers in-store spend more than shoppers online – period. In fact, 71 percent of shoppers are spending more in-store than they are online.

Because stores typically offer a diverse range of goods and allow retailers to cross-promote relevant items, in-store shoppers are more likely to get side-tracked and impulse buy. With data-led forecasting of stock, efficient use of shop floor space, and a tailored width and depth of products, retailers can make the temptation even harder to resist.

A durable assortment plan – that considers seasonal changes, budgets, and consumer trends – is invaluable in achieving the highest possible conversion rate.

Where does assortment planning fit in your overall process?

Assortment planning should never be an afterthought. It needs to be ingrained in your retail planning systems and be a focal point of your overall business strategy.

While assortment planning in retail may occasionally be restricted based on fixed assets like store layout and floor size, for the most part, it should lead the strategy, rather than being tailored around it.

Fundamentally, an assortment plan needs to factor in ambition and practicality. An assortment plan that focuses too heavily on stakeholder opinion, rather than data, may result in retailers wasting large quantities of goods and going over budget. While an overwhelming money-saving mindset could see retailers missing out on opportunities to tap into consumer demand and market trends.

A successful assortment plan helps retailers and other businesses balance their budgets and company vision – think of it as a check and balance against going too far one way or the other.

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Key factors to consider when developing an assortment plan

Before making key assortment planning decisions, you’ll first need to highlight any potential constraints that might harm your chances of delivering the desired service. Some examples of business limitations might include:

• Budget constraints
• The amount of floor space available to work with in a bricks and mortar store
• Warehouse capacity and delivery accessibility
• Contractual restraints and supply limitations with vendors
• Consumer demand and market trends

Secondly, businesses must consider their customer base. Using past data, companies can gauge which products make them the most money – and generate high demand year-round – and label them as staple items.

In addition to this, businesses need the agility to capitalize on emerging trends and manage the balance between staple items that customers always return for, and new trending products they may want to try.

These need to be factored into your core retail strategy – product assortment planning shouldn’t exist in a vacuum.

How to build an assortment plan

Building an assortment plan from scratch can be a challenge. Because there are so many consumer and logistical factors to consider when product assortment planning – and we can’t predict the future – retailers simply need to make the most informed decisions with the information available.

Before you start creating a new assortment plan or updating an existing one, you should know why you’re reviewing your assortment plan.

For example, most retailers will prepare or refresh an assortment plan to:

• Gauge what unique and new items they should add to their lines.
• Assess which range of products to grow to maximize profits and which ones to reduce to limit waste.
• Find out the best way to add depth to popular product ranges.
• Find out how to divide assortments by customer demographic and locality to maximize conversions.

To create an effective assortment plan, businesses should:

Conduct the necessary research

When it comes to stocking stores, retailers need to understand the role of each product. In addition to using historical sales performance data, businesses need to factor in any extra items required, shelf life and cost, and selling prices. With this information, retailers can accurately source products, choose the best suppliers, manage their budgets and maximize cross-promotions.

Decide on assortments

Based on your research, finalizing a merchandise assortment is the next important step. Historic data and forecasting solutions should guide retailers on staples and emerging trends seasonality. It’s vital retailers have enough depth in their product ranges to keep consumers satisfied and attract new custom. 

Use the space

Focus on the visual aspect of your assortment planning and how you can best use floor space to maximize cross-promotion and capitalize on impulse buying. Based on data, businesses need to be mindful about where they place certain merchandise. Consider the most effective place for eye-level promotions, POS displays with seasonal merchandise, and new deals to get the best results.

Consider clustering

Grouping multiple stores with similar performance and consumer data may be feasible for some smaller chains. Stores of similar size and locality can often be grouped into ‘clusters’ as their regional customer base and demographics produce similar behavior and purchasing data. Store clustering not only makes it easier to manage inventory but helps retailers orchestrate consistent deals that target consumers’ interests and needs.

Assortment planning tools and software

Drawing up an effective assortment plan without modern tools and technology is not only time-consuming and costly but also more likely to lead to inaccuracies.

As competition increases among retailers, so does the need for assortment planning tools like real-time tracking and centralized data management software.

This means retailers need to deviate from conventional methods of gathering data – like Excel spreadsheets and non-centralized systems – that require hours of manual input.

At the very minimum, modern retailers need access to a retail analytics platform, which collects, cleans and validates data to inform every decision when it comes to assortment planning.

Retail analytics takes the guesswork out of assortment planning and avoids inaccuracies – transforming data into actionable insights and reports to validate every decision.

Amp up your merchandising strategy.

Looking for a tool to make assortment planning easier? See what services SPS Commerce has to offer.

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Assortment Planning with SPS Commerce

SPS Commerce makes assortment planning effortless. Our assortment planning solution streamlines, standardizes, and validates your retail data, so it’s ready for your clients.

It’s a seamless way of facilitating effective assortment planning by making sure your partners know exactly what you need and when, so your shelves are always stocked to keep customers happy.

For more information on how our innovative solutions can transform your retail offering, contact our team today.

The impact of item data

It’s easy to underestimate the impact that item data and product attributes have on the customer experience. Not only does it play a huge role in customer satisfaction, but item data directly influences a number of other retailer operations, as outlined below.

Precision in customer purchases

Accurate product attributes enable customers to find and purchase products with precision, reducing the likelihood of returns. Imagine a customer searching for a specific type of shoe in a particular size and color. Without accurate product attributes, they’ll most likely end up with the wrong product, leading to dissatisfaction and returns.

Streamlined digital channel launches

Timely item data is crucial for retailers looking to launch products in digital channels efficiently. Delays caused by missing or incomplete data can result in missed opportunities and frustrated customers. With accurate product attributes, your buying or eCommerce teams can expedite product launches, staying ahead in the competitive market.

Optimized assortment planning

Accurate item data also plays a pivotal role in assortment planning. Knowing what products are in demand, their attributes and how they perform can help you curate a compelling assortment that resonates with your target audience. This results in better inventory management and increased sales.

Effective product advertising

Accurate item data provides the foundation for effective product advertising. It allows retailers to craft compelling product descriptions, showcase relevant images and create engaging marketing campaigns. When customers encounter accurate and enticing product listings, they are more likely to make a purchase.

An exceptional customer experience

In the competitive retail landscape, an exceptional customer experience is paramount. Accurate, comprehensive and consistent item data is an integral part of this equation. Especially considering that 79% of consumers shop online at least once a month. When customers can trust the information they find on your platform, they are more likely to become repeat buyers and brand advocates.

A systematic approach to item data

The sheer scale of managing product attributes and data points can be intimidating, especially when data resides across multiple systems, with different naming systems and categorization across suppliers. It’s a huge undertaking for most buying organizations.

SPS Commerce offers a full-service, systematic item management solution designed to address your most pressing item data challenges. With our proven processes, cutting-edge technology and over two decades of expertise, we empower your organization to manage the entire item lifecycle effectively.

By partnering with SPS Commerce, you can harness the power of your item data to its fullest potential. Whether you’re missing critical data or seeking a streamlined process for obtaining it from your suppliers, our solution is tailored to meet your unique needs. Embracing a systematic and prescriptive approach to item data management, such as the one offered by SPS, can elevate your retail business and help you stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market.

Don’t let missing or inaccurate item data hinder your success. Partner with SPS Commerce to unlock the full potential of your item data and provide your customers with an unparalleled shopping experience.

Everyone Needs Accurate, Timely Product Data

Product details are useful to just about everyone across your company. From production to sales to shipping and accounting, details are needed to manufacture, store and invoice correctly. Almost any activity involving products requires product data.

Likewise, your external partners, primarily your retail customers and third-party logistics providers, also need item data. Retailers understand their customers. They know what fills shopping carts. Research shows that more product data leads to more sales. Retailers often require a wide range of product attributes that engage their customers. This data also provides their planners and operations teams with the details needed to showcase and receive items properly.

Both audiences, internal and external, have similar needs but today’s catalog management systems are designed to serve one or the other group, rarely both.

Finding the Right Catalog Management System Can Be Confusing

To find the right catalog management tool for your business, it’s important to understand your need, pick an audience, and ask a lot of questions.

Some questions to ask to assess your internal business needs are:

• Where is product data located? Who owns these internal systems?
• Who needs access to product details? Which details are important to them? Do they need to view the data or will they author it?
• How often are product details updated? Who governs the process to update or modify product date?
• What is the process to check the accuracy or completeness of the data?
• Is the data and its format consistent across business units?

Alternatively, to understand the external needs of your product data, we suggest asking the following questions:

• What information is required by each trading partner? What attributes are optional but would make our products stand out?
• How often do retailers need updates? How quickly are these updates reflected on their eCommerce sites or stores?
• What information do my competitors offer? How can product data become a competitive advantage?
• What format does each trading partner require for product details?
• How do retailers alert their suppliers about new product requirements?
• Can both digital assets, copy and other specs be communicated through a single channel or communication?

Now that you have a better understanding of what’s needed, your search for the right catalog management system can begin.

PIMs: Great for Internal Use, Not External

Product Information Management (PIM) solutions were designed to serve an internal audience. They do it well and provide value to organizations who have them. PIMs are designed to store internal assets and promote collaboration and consistency. They are not well-suited for getting this same data into the hands of retailers.

While some suppliers successfully use a PIM, they are seeing its limitations.

Using a PIM to manage external data needs is difficult and often results in manual processes. To do so will require a number of steps. Users first define the needed data and extract it from the PIM. Then they manipulate it to fit the format required by the retailer. Finally, they manually cross-check the resulting spreadsheet to ensure it complies with requirements. Alternatively, some suppliers have chosen to integrate their PIM with an externally-focused catalog management system that are focus on serving the needs of external parties, namely retailers.

Equip Retailers with Product Data, The Easy Way

If supporting your external trading partnerships is a priority, you’ll want to focus your search on solutions that focus on the external delivery of your product information. Use your understanding of your business needs and your retailer’s requirements to guide the process. A PIM is likely not your best option.

I’m frequently in discussions with suppliers about their business and the challenges they face. Often too much time is spent providing product details to retailers. They want to automate the process. When considering their next steps, they’ve found it helpful to ask catalog management system provider the following questions about your external needs:

• Do they understand my retailers’ requirements and have customers using it with my retailers?
• Do they keep the solution current, knowing the latest changes from my retailers? Is this my responsibility or theirs to manage this process?
• Are they flexible? Do they accept my preferred data formats to populate their solution?
• Do they run compliance checks against my data to uncover any discrepancies before the retailer does?
• Can we update the solution once and have it serve all retailers’ needs?
• Can I finally ditch the spreadsheets and get back to my other tasks?

Looking at improving the speed and accuracy of providing retailers with product data? It’s time you met SPS Commerce Assortment. Request a demo today. We’ll show you how easy this process can be. Together, we can get the right product details to your retailers.

We recently sat down with product manager Scott Williams to discuss common questions and answers. Here’s a snapshot of our conversation.

What is GDSN Data Synchronization?

The Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) is an Internet-based product data pool. GDSN data synchronization enables companies to exchange standardized product data with their trading partners. In a nutshell, GDSN is one of the methods trading partners use to “speak the same language” about product data.

The GDSN specification was established in 2004, and is governed by GS1 standards. GS1 standards also cover other technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), barcodes and RFID (radio frequency identification) tags.

Who uses GDSN Data Synchronization?

GDSN Data Synchronization is primarily used across retail industries, including food, apparel and general merchandise. Also, some healthcare and banking organizations have adopted GDSN. GDSN is most frequently adopted by large organizations. Yet, GDSN does not easily scale since adding new trading partners requires new manual mapping.

How does GDSN Data Synchronization work?

Every product has a unique identifier in the GDSN system. Sellers (suppliers) enter attributes about their products into the system, which is stored in a “data pool.” Data pools must comply with GS1 standards and certification requirements. This is where suppliers can find the most difficulty in using GDSN. Because only 33 percent of data pools work together, suppliers must decipher and use the ones that do.

Buying organizations (retailers, grocers and distributors) access sellers’ product data through these data pools.

Wouldn’t it be easier if there was one solution to send data to any retailer?

Is using GDSN Data Synchronization required?

To exchange product data in a language that works for both trading partners, both parties need to have a shared method of communication. To do this, some buying organizations require suppliers to use a GDSN certified data pool. 

Often, GDSN data synchronization is an option, but other methods of sharing product data can be used instead. GDSN data pools can require more manual effort than growing businesses can afford, and there are a variety of alternative tools available. 

What types of product attributes can be shared through GDSN Data Synchronization?

Product attributes that can be shared through GDSN include:

• Category
• Color
• Size and weight
• Packaging information

Some types of product data can generally not be shared through GDSN, including pricing and certain eCommerce attributes. Also, adding attributes through GDSN can be a long and tedious process. In today’s fast-paced retail market, businesses need to be able to adapt quickly.

Further, retailers often require attributes not supported by GDSN. This means that suppliers need to send spreadsheets in addition to sharing data via GDSN, causing additional manual processes for both buying and selling organizations.

For these reasons, many organizations use other methods in addition to GDSN to meet their product data needs. 

How much does it cost to use GDSN Data Synchronization?

Both buying and selling organizations pay a fee to access data through a GDSN-certified data pool. Some data pool providers base their pricing on a company’s total revenue. Others consider a company’s number of active SKUs or the number of data recipients. 

The pricing model can result in very high annual costs. Often brands that are new, niche or direct-to-consumer opt-out of the GDSN due to these costs. Instead, they choose to work directly with retailers.

What are some other ways that trading partners can manage and share product data?

Surprisingly, many companies still use spreadsheets to manage and share their product data. This is tedious and time-consuming, especially as businesses grow and add more products to their assortment. Other companies use PIMs, PDMs, and PCM systems to host product data. These are useful for storing data, but still require additional work to transfer product data to buying organizations. 

Assortment from SPS Commerce not only stores product data, but also handles the manual, time-consuming tasks associated with mapping to retail requirements and sharing product data. Selling organizations simply share their product data with SPS once. SPS does the heavy lifting of transforming, validating and delivering the data to each unique trading partner on their behalf. 

Looking for expert advice on GDSN Data Synchronization? Talk with our experts about your product data questions.