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~ Lorna Leaver ~

brands, retailers and consumers alike. Whether you are up- Improved brand representation
loading attributes to a centralised database or want to know Improved brand representation is one of the key benefits of
more about the product from a dietary, environmental or reli- using productDNA from a manufacturer’s perspective. Uni-
gious perspective, the time was right for a retail revolution.” lever’s customer operations director, Richard Sadler com-
mented: “Through the click of a button we are going to be
Discussing adopting productDNA able to transfer data from our systems, to be pulled directly
GS1 UK hosted a live webinar alongside senior directors into a retailer’s system, which will improve efficiency and
from Tesco, Ocado, Unilever and Sainsbury’s to discuss why enable us to more easily keep our data up to date. This will
UK retailers and manufactures are adopting productDNA. ensure that when consumers are looking at these products
During the webinar, Ocado’s director of planning and sup- on our customer websites, they have the right information in
ply chain, Mark Watson said, “It is no secret that customers front of them to make the right decisions.” Mike Du Satouy,
across retail expect to see rich and accurate product infor- future infrastructure commercial operations at Sainsbury’s
mation to enable them to make better-informed buying de- re-enforced this point by saying: “No-one should be in any
cisions, whether they are trying to compare calorie content doubt about the responsibility of the food, drink, non-food
or find out if a particular product is identified as vegetarian industry to present customers, whoever they are, wherever
or has allergen warnings. Customers find it frustrating, as they are, with information that is accurate to the degree that
we all know, if data is missing, inconsistent or inaccurate. they can trust it and that they can trust any retailer of any
So, our mission from a customer point of view is to make size selling the products that manufacturers sell. Whether
the customer interaction friction-free, and productDNA you’re a farmer or a large company like Unilever, everybody
goes a long way to supporting this business-critical mis- has due responsibility to be safe and legal.”
sion. ProductDNA is made by the industry, for the industry
- which I think is incredibly important. It is a single view Getting involved
of all product data. Product data from multiple suppliers If you would like to find out more about productDNA or to
will be collated and validated in one central system, which sign-up for the solution, register your interest here. https://
will simplify and speed-up the process for new suppliers, productdna.gs1uk.org/register-interest
launching new product lines and approving amendments.
The absolute intention from the outset of this project was
high-quality, rich data to future-proof this process.”

Lorna is an experienced ecommerce professional working for GS1UK, the standards organisation behind the barcode. She managed multiple marketplaces for several global
brands over the years giving a well rounded background in international and cross-border trading before moving to a non for profit to focus on helping SMEs to grow their
businesses through online channels.

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