Best Buy, Bing, CNET, eBay, Google and Walmart Support New GS1 US Standard for Listing Product Information Online

GS1 US Simple Product Listing to Enhance Customer Search Experience

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May 19, 2015, 09:30 ET

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J., May 19, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new GS1 US standard offers a common approach for listing and classifying products across all e-commerce platforms. Developed in collaboration with 18 companies, including Best Buy, Bing, CNET, eBay, Google, and Walmart, the GS1 US Simple Product Listing™ helps ensure that products are accurately represented across all sales channels and are more easily discoverable by search engines and consumers.

The GS1 US Simple Product Listing Standard enables trading partners to use a single standardized set of consumer-friendly terms that are linked to their existing internal product hierarchies so that consumers are presented with the same trusted information across all channels. By bridging the gap between retailers and suppliers, and providing an automated product classification system, speed-to-market is accelerated.

"Consumer demand and advancing technology has created an unprecedented need for accurate, authentic product information across any device," said Amit Menipaz, vice president, structured data at eBay Marketplaces. "The GS1 US Simple Product Listing will help us to standardize and simplify that information for sellers by reducing complexity of data integrity challenges within our ecosystem. This technology enables eBay's consumers to more effectively find what they are looking for across our global marketplace with more than 800 million listings.

"Trusted product content helps drive seamless shopping experiences for our customers. The GS1 US Simple Product Listing provides a standard set of customer-centric attributes that facilitates product content definition and acquisition," said Ram Rampalli, global head of product content acquisition, Walmart Global eCommerce. "Additionally, we are able to streamline operations through more interoperable, efficient data handling processes that help reduce costs."

The initial release of the GS1 US Simple Product Listing (available for download at www.gs1us.org/SPL) will include six of the most commonly searched product segments:

Books, Music, & Movies
Clothing, Shoes, & Accessories
Consumer Electronics
Collectibles & Memorabilia
Gift & Pre-paid Service Cards
Tickets

"Products need to be represented accurately and consistently, in potentially thousands of different places online," said Rich Richardson, vice president of emerging capabilities and industries, GS1 US. "In today's global, digitally-connected world, retailers and brand owners need to simplify the sharing, set up and usability of trusted product information across digital and physical commerce channels. The GS1 US Simple Product Listing is a product of key stakeholders from industry joining together to establish a shared standard for listing and classifying products across e-commerce platforms."

As part of the ongoing standard development process, GS1 US will collect and share industry feedback with the GS1 US Simple Product Listing Workgroup participants to identify potential opportunities to improve the GS1 US Simple Product Listing Standard—expanding and creating a comprehensive representation of product types, attributes, attribute values, exclusionary terms and inclusionary terms. An additional 21 product segments will be added by the workgroup over the next year, representing a total of 27 segments.

For more information about the GS1 US Simple Product Listing, including how to get involved in the industry workgroup, please visit www.gs1us.org/SPL.

About GS1 US
GS1 US, a member of GS1^®, is an information standards organization that brings industry communities together to solve supply-chain problems through the adoption and implementation of GS1 Standards. More than 300,000 businesses in 25 industries rely on GS1 US for trading-partner collaboration and for maximizing the cost effectiveness, speed, visibility, security and sustainability of their business processes. They achieve these benefits through solutions based on GS1 global unique numbering and identification systems, barcodes, EPC-enabled RFID, data synchronization, and electronic information exchange. GS1 US also manages the United Nations Standard Products and Services Code^® (UNSPSC^®). www.GS1US.org

SOURCE GS1 US