What is a product data platform?

What is a Product Data Platform?

It’s 2021, and we think it’s time to change the way we work with product data. So many people and companies still rely on Excel as a main solution for their product data; some others have moved on to a PIM solution, but nothing solves the root cause of all the issues we have with product data: bad quality data. It is time for a change! To solve the issues around product data for once and for all, we are introducing our very own Product Data Platform. We can hear you think: “A Product Data Platform? Tell me more…”. Well, we’re glad you asked.

Product Data Platforms enable you to get the most value out of your product data in any system, no matter the format or quality. You can load all your product data into a PDP, from any source or any format. The PDP will then clean it up and make it accessible and usable across any other platform or system. This enables you to be in control, sell more products, and get the best ROI out of your product data.

What is a Product Data Platform?

As you can see in the visual below, a PDP will act as a ‘hub’ for all your product data. Data comes in, gets cleaned, and is distributed to other systems.

The official definition for a Product data Platform (or PdP in shorter terms) is ‘a platform that gathers, matches, classifies and cleanses product data, and then composes and distributes it to other systems’. There are a few important elements in this definition, let’s go over them briefly

1. Gathering data. A PDP is designed to handle any kind of data, no matter the quality, format, or source. Simply export the data from all the sources that contain your product data and load them up into the PDP where it will be extracted and made ready for the next step.
2. Matching data. One of the first things a PDP will do is to match the data you just loaded into it, to an existing database. This will make sure any duplicates are identified.
3. Classifying data. After the duplicate products have been dealt with, your product data will be classified. This will result in a clear set of attributes for each product that will make it recognizable and attractive for your customers. For example, for Led lamps attributes like Watt, Lumen, Cap Base, Color Temperature and Dimmable indication are important attributes to classify.
4. Cleaning data. When your product data has been allocated to the appropriate class, it will be cleansed, normalized and enriched. Your data is cleaned making use of machine learning and AI. For example, categorizing the right attributes (e.g. ‘size’, or ‘material’) in a normalized format is something that happens in this stage. Some PDPs are also able to enrich your product data, by adding variables that they have available in their database, but that are not yet a part of your dataset.
5. Composing information. Once your data has been properly cleansed and enriched, you want to start using it! With a PDP you can compose the right information, fit for purpose. This means that the right attributes will be set in the right order, perhaps be abbreviated or maybe augmented with commercial terms to fit in the systems you will be using it in. The real state of the art PDPs will do this automatically, without needing any templates.
6. Distributing data. A PDP enables you to output your product information to any system that can use it. For example, you want to use your product data and information in your e-commerce system so you can start selling your product. Or you might want to use it in an analytics system, to get better insights in the performance of your products.

Are you familiar with the struggles of dealing with product data? Do you have multiple data sources (ERP, CME, PIM), but is it a struggle to get the most out of your data? Get in touch withus! We’ll help you out of the woods.

In future blogs, we will dive deeper into these different elements that make a PDP. Stay tuned for more!