Feedback from our customers is vitally important to us here at Atheon. One issue we’ve become very aware of over the past 12 months is that our data management solution for product matching is less than ideal, particularly regarding the manual procedures and spreadsheet exchanges involved.
With that in mind, we’re happy to announce the release of two new data management tools: Product Master and Product Matching. This toolset is designed to improve product definition and classification within SKUtrak, and aims to automate and simplify product matching.
Product Master and Product Matching are designed to work in tandem with one another. Combined, they transform the existing product-matching experience by giving you the ability to upload product definitions via CSV files or manually input data.
Using these tools, you will be able to provide significantly more detailed product definitions and include additional attributes such as flavour, pack size, case size, and other custom characteristics. This new approach delivers an easy, flexible, and more comprehensive solution to product matching.
Matching products across different retailers can be a frustrating task. With varying product definitions and classifications, it can feel like trying to fit puzzle pieces into the wrong jigsaw. This inconsistency is a significant challenge, especially in the fast-paced world of grocery retail, where updates and changes happen frequently.
Adam Booth, Product Director at Atheon Analytics, explains:
"Retailers like Asda, Tesco, and Sainsbury's may classify or name identical products differently. This can lead to disparities in data feeds and skewed numbers, as a retailer may perceive a single product as two or three separate SKUs. One of the core advantages of SKUtrak is that it aims to simplify this process by consolidating all product data for a unified view.
“Consistent reporting across multiple retailers is vital for evaluating category performance. However, this can become tricky unless products are classified in the same way. If I want to assess whether my category is performing well at Morrisons but not at Asda, I can only do so if the same products are categorised under it at both Morrisons and Asda."
“Classification data increasingly needs to be incorporated into forecasting platforms and internal systems like SAP. To facilitate this, CPG companies need to have the ability to easily map customer product codes to their internal codes, ensuring smooth connectivity between all the various systems."
You can find the new tools in the data management section of SKUtrak. Below is a summary of what each offers:
This tool assists users in matching their product definitions to retailer feeds. It shows a list of unmatched products with completion percentages by retailer. A machine learning-based quick match feature suggests the most likely supplier product descriptions linked to each retailer’s products.
Users can navigate through these matches and manage exclusions if there are products they don't want to include.
Key benefits of the new tools
Combined, Product Master and Product Matching deliver the following benefits:
With Product Master and Product Matching, the power to simplify and optimise your data management processes is now firmly in your hands. These tools make it possible to ensure your products are accurately represented across all retailer platforms, and that your supply chain insights truly reflect your product performance.
