Retailers, suppliers and manufacturers in South Africa`s FMCG industry have taken a major step into the electronic commerce community with the implementation of a national product catalogue. Initiated by the South African chapter of EAN, the international supply chain standards body, the product catalogue is regarded as the foundation for the FMCG industry to come into line with international product supply standards and enter the global e-commerce community. The facility is hosted by Commerce Centre of Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd, a Datacentrix company.
The project has been put in place for EAN South Africa, the co-ordinating body in Southern Africa for the EAN.UCC international identification standards for products, services and locations. The facility allows producers to place the full details of their product ranges in a central database. Typical information includes product description, weight and dimensions, standard packaging, bar codes and many more. The retailers can browse and subscribe to this information electronically. The information thus obtained will be used to initiate either internal or external processes.
"The National Product Catalogue guarantees business interoperablity, which extends globally," says EAN SA Chairman Ronnie Herzfeld. "The catalogue does away with a barrier to our FMCG manufacturers entering international markets."
The participants in the initiative include many of the most prominent retail businesses, producers and distributors in South Africa representing all areas of the FMCG community. The pilot project started in early March 2000 and was completed at the end of July. Enhancements to the service are currently under way, and the full service is expected to go live in the Q4 of this year.
Malcolm Leitch, director, customer development, at Lever Pond`s (Pty) Ltd says, "for suppliers the product catalogue is a non-threatening, low-risk e-commerce first-step for our industry. E-commerce can`t exist if there are no common standards, and no clean data is available to work off. The product catalogue is a key building block for the development of ECR (Efficient Consumer Response) in South Africa.
"It`s in everyone`s interest to become more efficient in the supply chain," Leitch maintains. "Globally the industry is making an effort to raise standards, and the catalogue is just one initiative to standardise and improve the efficiencies of the global FMCG supply chain."
Commerce Centre specialises in creating, powering and managing secure "e-Marketplace communities" where multiple buyers and sellers can conduct real-time transactions, exchange goods and services, collaborate on business opportunities and share information faster and at lower costs. Its software and services allow customers to build e-communities, to integrate business processes and to exchange information within and between enterprises worldwide.
"The e-business market is driven by buyers and sellers hungry for sophisticated, secure electronic-marketplace communities in which to conduct business transactions faster and more efficiently," says Commerce Centre COO Chris Greyling. "It is also being driven by companies eager to improve customer service, increase productivity and enhance their competitive edge in the global market."
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