The Future of Standardised Fashion Data and the GS1 Fashion Base

The exchange of reliable and up-to-date product information is necessary to meet the growing information needs of the (online) consumer and among others to be future-proof. More and more fashion brands are opting for GS1 Fashion Base and Icecat to share fashion item data with their trading partners. And that is for a good reason, because the manual 1-on-1 exchange of data is too time-consuming and error-prone.

GS1 Fashion Base Powered by Icecat

With the GS1 Fashion Base, fashion trading partners can exchange product information with each other. This mean logistic, administrative, e-commerce and omnichannel processes. Agreements have been made in the Dutch fashion sector about which article data can be exchanged via GS1 Fashion Base. The exchange includes logistical information and information for e-commerce such as photos and videos.

Manufacturers, such as Bestseller, record information about their products only once in the data pool and all their customers, like Wehkamp and Euretco, can access it. Of course, the brand owner is responsible for selecting which customers may access the data. The data users, often omnichannel retailers, can directly and automatically import the product information from the data pool via Icecat. Therefore, from all their brands – into their own systems. Through the Icecat Open Catalog Interface the data is available in XML, JSON, CSV, Excel, Live html, and through numerous add-ons to mainstream platforms.

Global Standard

GS1 uses a global standard called Global Product Classification (GPC). The set up of the GS1 Fashion base is easy, and every fashion company can adopt the standard. Functionally and technically. GS1 will also roll out in other countries outside The Netherlands. This makes the many 1-on-1 links that are now needed superfluous. The entire chain can migrate to a much more manageable process of sharing their product data. This unifies the IT landscape in the fashion sector and that will reduce transaction costs significantly. If GS1 doesn’t offer Fashion Base not yet in your country, Icecat is still able to help you out. Icecat supports fashion initiatives around the globe, and probably already supports your locale (country/language) as well.

One Single Source of Truth

If everyone uses one and the same source, one can expect the quality of the data to be strongly improved compared to the existing situation. Moreover, additions and corrections are immediately available for all users. They can be of use directly in all situations: payments, online presentations, orders, replenishing stock, data and assortment analyses, etc.

Do you think that the GS1 Fashion Base – powered by Icecat – is something for your business?

Please, contact your account manager or Dominic van Waversveld for more information.