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RE: The lack of data accuracy in UK

Steve Richardson — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:41:37 GMT

If I had a pound for every company who first asks how much things cost!

I you have such a bad problem with data quality that you are getting fined by the retailers and getting deliveries rejected at warehouses and spending ages on invoice mismatches and added up the cost of these errors in your business, then you might think differently.

Most people can't justify the investment because they don't know the value of the benefit.

If you could save £20K a year from a 10K a year investment you would probably do it, because you are £10K up overall.

I would suggest your first step is to evaluate the opporunity in your own business rather than necessarily looking outside the organisation.

RE: The lack of data accuracy in UK

timbo — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:55:41 GMT

While I generally understand the points above, it still appears to be very difficult for me, as a small food manufacturer, to understand what to do next? GDS appears to be overly-complex and therefore, I presume, for the global suppliers and manufacturers out there who are no doubt already benefiting from it? I can't throw money or people at a problem that i agree exists, but one that doesn't directly impact me on a day-to-day basis? Or at least, where it does, I have worked around the problems.

RE: The lack of data accuracy in UK

Steve Richardson — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:12:04 GMT

It is in the interest of both the supplier and the retailer to work together on this. Its not about who pays the cost of cleaning the data, its about the benefit that clean data brings, not only to operational efficiency, but more importantly to the perception that the consumer has of your Brand.

Take me for example, I buy grocery goods online and have home delivery. I am Diabetic, so need low sugar foods. My wife is Lactose intolerant and needs to steer clear of products with high lactose levels in. If I don't know what the sugar or lactose content is in a product, I don't buy it!

Who loses out? Well the Supplier does, as there is a high chance I buy another Brand from the same retailer, but a consistent lack of information on the retailer website, will make me shop from someone who gives me what I need to make my purchasing decision.

If you read the stats about Food allergies, you'll see that more and more people are claiming to have a food allergy. Clinical studies suggest between 1-5% of the population have an allergy, but a recent survey suggested that up to 38% of the population claim to have some kind of allergy or special dietary requirement!

The effort to provide clean data to the consumer is relatively low, compared to the potentially huge loss of sales from not providing it.

My question to both the retailer and the supplier is; are you prepared to alienate that much of the population because you can't agree whose problem it is?

RE: The lack of data accuracy in UK

Harshal — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:40:39 GMT

Data quality is a collobartive issue, however its the supplier who owns the data because its their product. One of the key principles of GDS is that the data quality should be managed at source.

Its important that the retailer does take ownership of the issue as they are the most impacted if the data is bad. Some retailers are now measuring the quality of data their suppliers provide them and report back to the suppliers how good or bad the data is.

RE: The lack of data accuracy in UK

timbo — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:29:43 GMT

The survey seems to imply the problems are caused by suppliers and so therefore, the problems and costs of solving the problems will, once again, fall with the suppliers. Shouldn't the retailers do more to help, sharing the solution and the costs?

RE: The lack of data accuracy in UK

Tomb — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:13:02 GMT

Clearly data accuracy is a major issue and as you outline it adds additional cost to supply chains. But who owns the issue? And is it at a high enough level within organisations?

The lack of data accuracy in UK

Harshal — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:28:34 GMT

As we all know data accuracy is one of the major issues in the UK supply chain today.

Tesco stated at a recent presentation that 40% of consumer unit dimensions from suppliers are in-correct. To understand how bad the problem is, the GS1 UK Data Synchronisation Group recently carried out a survey of UK retailers/foodservice operators and suppliers. The results were interesting and therefore I thought it would be useful to share them with you.

The following companies were involved in the survey

Retailers / Foodservice Operators - ASDA, Makro, Boots, Compass & Woodwards

Suppliers - Reckitt Benckiser, Proctor & Gamble, Heinz, Unilever, Nestle, R&R Ice-Cream, L'Oreal, Mars,

The key results from the survey were:

· Core data such as GTIN and dimensions are poorly communicated between suppliers and retailer/ foodservice operators. The impact to retailers is massive, the retailer is unable to order the product quickly, the retailer is unable to plan for their warehouse and store

· The full set of product information from suppliers is not available to retailers / foodservice operators. More and more retailers are requesting detailed information to meet consumer demands e.g. food allergen data. The issue is that the supplier finds it difficult to find the information within their systems.

· Data not delivered from suppliers in a timely manner. Typically a retailer requests product information from suppliers 20 weeks for a new product launch. The issue is the supplier doesn't have the information on the product at that time in the process. Basic information such as case size and pallet information is not available, so they give the retailer dummy data. The problem is that supplier doesn't update this information - so the retailer is using dummy data for warehouse management and supply chain processes.