These days, a short product description is hardly enough to convince people to buy your products. Consumers expect reliable and complete specifications of the items they wish to purchase. They need to be able to trust that a product can be used safely. For this reason, authorities demand that product data complies with laws and regulations.
Product data must be compliant with laws and regulations to ensure that products are safe and can be used by consumers. Think, for example, of food that needs to be accompanied by detailed information about ingredients and allergens, construction tools that require a safety data sheet, or a can of paint that must carry warnings about any hazardous substances it might contain. Specific product requirements not only apply to goods sold in physical stores, but also for products sold in webshops.
Compliance of product data
To ensure that your product information is in accordance with all current laws and regulations, you’ll need complete understanding of the compliance of product data. Does your data describe all the necessary characteristics of a product, and is it compliant with all requirements? Only when your data is complete and of good quality, you are able to keep up with all legal requirements set forth by the various governing bodies.
In most organizations, product data is still processed manually, often via Excel files. By using this method, it is likely that product data will be spread across the organization. In our experience, organizations that use this method often have limited insight into their data – there is no reliable way of knowing if product data is up-to-date, or whether this data was processed according to the right standards in order to comply with laws and regulations.
Organizations are responsible for their products and its corresponding data. When you fail to provide complete information, it could have serious consequences for your organization. For instance, your products might be withdrawn from the market, or you could receive hefty fines from retailers or governing authorities.
To avoid these consequences, more and more organizations are choosing to make use of a Product Information Management (PIM) system. Because a PIM system allows you to see at a glance whether data is missing or incorrectly processed, it not only ensures better data quality for its users, but also saves a lot of time. After all, with a PIM system, you will no longer be required to search through piles of data, spread across the entire organization, to check whether your product data is complete and up-to-date.
A PIM system helps you to keep your data complete and up-to-date
A PIM system is a solution that connects with other systems of an organization, such as an ERP-system, and with the channels that distribute product information into the market. This creates a single-source-of-truth – a central location within your organization where data is collected, enriched and published.
With a PIM system, you can easily classify certain products. Its built-in validation system then allows you to check whether the product carries the correct information, based on the assigned classification. For example, if you classify something as a food product, you can immediately check whether the allergens information for this product is described correctly.
How to ensure that your data complies with laws and regulations?
Do you want to know more about how a PIM system ensures that your data meets all necessary requirements? Read our free e-book and learn you everything you need to know!