Press Release
The new catalog will improve data quality and efficiency through a single product record for beer brands
Beer Industry Electronic Commerce Coalition and Syndigo to Launch Beer Industry Master Product Catalog
Media contact: Erin Donar | EDonar@nbwa.org | 703-229-3702
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The Beer Industry Electronic Commerce Coalition (BIECC) and Syndigo, a leading SaaS product information and syndication company, today announced a partnership to create a Master Product Catalog (MPC) that will house basic item information and images for all participating beer brands. The MPC will aim to be a single source of item information made freely available to retailers, distributors, third-party vendors and other industry stakeholders.
A growing challenge across the beer industry is the availability of accurate, up-to-date product information, especially with the continued industry expansion of new and craft beer brands. The new MPC will create a single reference record for beer brands and retailers that can reduce data inconsistency and improve efficiency in data management.
Syndigo, along with the BIECC and the three beer trade associations (Brewers Association, National Beer Wholesalers Association and Beer Institute), will begin promoting participation to all brewers. Brewers will have the option to upload the required product information themselves at no cost or work with Syndigo to have their item content professionally produced for a nominal fee. As an early-adoption incentive, Syndigo is offering to photograph products and create content for the first 5,000 products received from small brewers at no cost – compliments of the BIECC.
“We learned early on in this project how badly retailers need accurate data and just how many different item catalogs there are across the beer industry,” said BIECC Staff Manager Dave Christman. “Whether it’s route accounting companies, mobile apps, eCommerce companies, payment providers or countless other industry stakeholders, they’ve all been trying to build and maintain their own catalogs. If we can get them all to source from the BIECC’s Catalog, not only can we save them a lot of time and energy, but we’ll also increase the reliability and accuracy of data across the board.”
Syndigo is a product content management and distribution platform that gives brands a consistent presence across the retail ecosystem. The company provides descriptive product and nutritional information, images and other digital media powered by deep analytics to create more engaging brand experiences online and in store.
“We work with many different companies across a variety of industries, and what the BIECC has proposed will bring an entire industry together for better data management,” said Chris Barnes, Syndigo SVP, Corporate Development & Solutions Delivery. “This Master Product Catalog will help the whole beer category across all channels, by directing customers to a single location for accessing content from brewers of all sizes and geographies.”
“Accurate, available, reliable product content is the number one request of every retailer we work with. What the BIECC and Syndigo are doing is a game changer for the beer industry,” remarked Boston Beer Company’s Director of eCommerce, Ethelbert Williams. “The fact that so many craft brewers are now going to have the chance to upload their content once and have it available across the entire industry is such a big deal.”
While providing retailers and distributors with accurate item information has been a primary goal of the MPC, solution providers and vendors to the beer industry have been a focus of the MPC as well.
Syndigo has created a landing page (www.syndigo.com/biecc) where brewers can learn more about the various ways they can upload their products into the MPC. Other questions or inquiries can be directed to Dave Christman at dchristman@nbwa.org.
About the Beer Industry Electronic Commerce Coalition:
The Beer Industry Electronic Commerce Coalition (BIECC), managed by NBWA and established in 1994, is a working group that strives to maximize the beer industry’s role and common interest pertaining to the implementation and utilization of electronic commerce within the three-tier system. Members include Anheuser-Busch, Molson Coors Beverage Company, Constellation Brands, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Boston Beer Company, a variety of beer distributors of differing size, brand affiliation and geography from across the country as well as each of the three beer trade associations (BA, NBWA, BI).
About Syndigo:
Syndigo enables commerce by supporting the efficient transfer of information between brands and their customers. We provide descriptive product and nutritional information, images and other digital media, powered by deep analytics to empower engaging brand experiences online and in store. Through Syndigo’s integrated platform, Content Experience Hub, clients can publish, manage, syndicate and audit their product content across the largest trading network of brands and recipients in the world. Syndigo is a GS1 Certified Identification Partner and GDSN data pool.
Syndigo serves more than 12,000 brands and 1,750 retailers globally in many important consumer industries including alcohol beverages, grocery, foodservice, hardlines, home improvement/DIY, pet, health and beauty, automotive, apparel, and healthcare products.