August 17, 2020 Industry news
According to Fierce Retail (2016) product information influences 56 cents of every dollar in retail sales. Shopping Guide (2016), also found that 88 per cent of consumers say that detailed product content is extremely or very important to their purchasing decisions.
With more online shoppers visiting Amazon for product search, than any other search engine before making a purchase, it is important that Amazon is able to provide the best quality product information to its customers.
Amazon has now joined forces with the Global Data Synchronisation Network (GDSN) to make it easier for brands, manufacturers and distributors to automate, enrich and distribute high-quality product content.
GDSN data supports Amazon in building upon their innovative foundation for e-commerce. It also ensures all required product attributes are captured and validates data through GS1 Global Standards.
Amazon have requested all Vendor Central sellers provide additional carton level information either directly through their Vendor Central account or start using GDSN as of 1 September 2020, to enrich and amend existing product listings, i.e. where a GTIN is already present in the Amazon catalogue. Amazon will extract 60 product attributes via GDSN, focusing on five mandatory / essential attributes:
- Trade Item Weight (gr)
- Trade Item Length (mm)
- Trade Item Width (mm)
- Trade Item Height (mm)
- Carton Quantity (Items in lower level)
New item set up (NIS) templates may still be used for product listings creation.
GDSN has already been deployed across the US, Germany, and Spain since 2014, and Amazon are keen to expand the rollout across the rest of Europe before 1 September 2020.
For more information on how Amazon are integrating with GDSN, please get in touch with the GS1 UK by emailing brands@gs1uk.org or downloading the GDSN Amazon Vendors guide below.