updates and tips your business craves
While no one could have predicted such an epic disruption to our daily lives, I want to share something with each of you. This is something that distributors, manufacturers, and operators can take a little comfort in during these trying times.
Q: What is a data pool? A Data Pool is a service provider that allows brand owners (Data Sources) and distributors (Data Recipients) to exchange product information across the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN). Data Pools are typically offer Software as a Service (SaaS) that allow Data Sources and Data Recipients to manage a catalog of products that are uniquely identified by Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs). GTINs are associated to a unique Global Location Number (GLN) that identifies the … Read more
Let’s talk images again. While you may have heard us talk about images in the past, possibly in our first town hall webinar with Food Marketing Solutions or our previous blog on image compliance, we are still fielding questions on why it’s important to work with a professional photographer and what to expect. So, we are digging into some more of the logistics around getting your images taken and what you should expect from a professional engagement with a company … Read more
In today’s world, shopping online seems to be a pretty robust e-commerce experience for consumers. When it comes to foodservice marketing best practices, however, our VP of Customer Experience, Jason Gunn, discovered several shortcomings related to marketing; images, descriptions, and content, when trying to help his customers feel comfortable making purchasing decisions online. If there’s anyone reading this who has never shopped online, come and see Jason Gunn personally. For the rest of us, let’s take a look at a … Read more
In our Town Hall with special guest, Ray Poinsette, Director of Process Improvement at Beaver Street Fisheries, we talked about how Beaver Street went from making every mistake possible with GTINs to having best-in-class content by leveraging scorecards. Poinsette feels it’s important to share their journey to help their partners and support everyone working together for GDSN synchronization. An industry leader’s guide to achieve 100% on all of your GS1 scorecards Beaver Street Fisheries is not only known for their … Read more
More than 70% of operators are going to be buying products online by the end of this year, according Cleveland Research Company. This means whatever your product information looks like in the distributor’s system is what they see. As a supplier, you have to ask yourself… what do my products look like? Am I providing the right information? Are my images helping or hurting my sales? For the last 10 years, suppliers have been haphazardly collecting images and marketing content … Read more
Fear not, my friends! Moving from one service provider to another can be painless. Here’s everything you need to know that will curb your anxiety. 3 Things That Make Switching Data Pools Pain Free Whenever I talk with a supplier about switching from one service provider (data pool) to another, there is an inherent fear. There is a fear of data being lost. There is a fear of disruption. There is a fear of unbridled pain and anguish that they … Read more
A supplier once told me that one of his interns has a ‘nice’ camera and is an amateur photography buff. Against my advisement, he insisted that the intern would take the pictures at the warehouse and photoshop them. Cheap and easy. Unsurprisingly, the images he got back were pixelated and the crop-job done in photoshop lined up with the photographer’s experience: amateur. It finally resonated with my customer − the president and second-generation owner of the company − that he … Read more
How often do you get your GS1 scorecard from a distributor and see something drastically different than what you thought it should be? Why is it that when you think you’re compliant you end up not being compliant?! Well, there’s a number of factors at play here, but let’s talk about some things that should help guide you to compliance a little faster. And, as always, call me if you have questions! We can help. You’re being scored on ALL … Read more
Data Pool Vendor Ignored Calls from a F100 Food Manufacturer? What the #!%& The Director of Foodservice Sales for a Fortune 100 manufacturer – one we all know and love, but shall remain nameless for now – was frustrated. Her products were not showing up in search results within one of their distributor’s online shopping tools. The distributor’s system was not receiving images, nutritional information, and marketing detail, so products were being penalized in search results. The data should have … Read more