Product Classification Key must be incorporated in all EDP systems related to sports

"With this new FEDAS Product Classification Key we succeeded in creating an essential prerequisite for a smooth and precise data exchange between the trade and the industry. Time is money! It is indispensable to have order data featured in electronic catalogues. The FEDAS Product Classification Key has finally given the retailers a tool that is suitable for both bigger and smaller suppliers alike and whose 5000 different FEDAS numbers can be retained on just a few sheets of paper if you want to keep a printed version of the electronic memory." Such is the judgement of Peter Wagner, the owner of "Schuh und Sport Wagner" based in Trostberg/Germany. He himself is not only a user, but - being a member of the FEDAS task force - also a co-developer and processor of this ever more widespread Key.

The success of the FEDAS Product Classification Key is also related to the fact that the leading brand-name manufacturers from our sector took part in its development right from the start. For instance, at the end of the 1990s, a team led by Intersport International’s data expert, Reidar Magnus, tackled the task of perfecting the standard EAN-Com/Edifact system in the worldwide EDI field by establishing global standardised numerical codes geared in particular towards sports goods and sports fashion. First of all, the Product Classification Key was developed in close cooperation with the leading data processing experts from industry and trade; today, this code includes 5000 goods groups and is permanently being updated. Moreover, a related code on sizes and colours is being worked on.

In future, even the most cost saving networking of any relevant data processing system from the sector will remain incomplete without these codes. FEDAS secretary general, Claude Benoit, who is also President of the Swiss sports trade association Asmas, commented: "This kind of networking will only make sense when the data required within a sector is recorded once only at its source of origin, and is then transferred directly between various data processing units in the framework of the EDI without any processing or with a minimum amount of processing only. Article data such as are created by the FEDAS Product Classification Key must necessarily be standard to the sector. In this way, additional internal work can be avoided such as translating external data into company-related formats. Our Product Classification Key is one example of this. If it is not uniform and clear, it will always have to be translated into "internal" Product Classification Key manually before data can be accepted by the internal data processing system. Since every manufacturer and every supplier have their own Product Classification Key today, this work needs several repeats. A uniform and clear Product Classification Key, which is standardised worldwide and recognised as standard in the sector - which is the case for the FEDAS Product Classification Key – will make such work superfluous."

An additional advantage of the uniform Product Classification Key as it is being supplied by FEDAS is its information content. If required, it allows for a clear and comparable analysis of sales in industry and trade and categorises them according to countries, regions, groups, sales channels etc. This process will involve a clear management information system – MIS -, which forms the basis of all future sales statistics from production right through to the POS.

To sum it up: with its work on the FEDAS Product Classification Key and the related standardization of codes on sizes and colours, the FSO – FEDAS Standardization Organisation – has contributed a great deal to creating globally standardized data, something that can definitely not be done at low cost.

Amongst other things this data includes the EAN article code, which is an identification code for all goods on SKU level – Stock Keeping Unit – alongside a currency code, a country code, and supplier codes (Incoterms).

Armin Pritzl, owner of Sport Pritzl in German Aidenbach, who has also taken part in the development of the Product Classification Key right from the start, assesses the success of his own work: "The new FEDAS version forms a comprehensive and thrilling foundation for the work of trade and industry. The categorization according to product groups and event areas (sports), and according to main groups and sub-groups offers an excellent possibility to live up to all evaluations as well as internal and external comparisons. Since almost all products from our sector have been taken into account, large suppliers may work on further details, while smaller users can build their information on condensation levels."

The new version of the FEDAS Product Classification Key 2.0 needs, however, a conversion of the existing code, which has already been carried out by several successful suppliers. Among the companies having implemented the new version 2.0 are adidas-Salomon AG, Sport 2000 Deutschland, IIC Intersport International Corporation, and Intersport Deutschland eG. All of them adopted the new code both for in-house operations and for their members’ IMIS. In the new version, synoptical tables for the product groups (hardware, textiles and footwear) make handling much easier. Moreover, the event areas were consistently opened so that it is possible now to classify all products.

Cornelia Linsmeyer who is in charge of using the FEDAS Product Classification Key at adidas, comments on the new version: "The code was integrated into our e-commerce solution B2B Ordering. In this way we would like to make sure that the retailer can use a search term known to him. It is intended that all B2B applications from our sector should offer this search term. In this way the user will find his or her required products far quicker. We must see to it that the FEDAS numbering is available on all essential documents (rate cards, catalogues etc.). It would also be reasonable to make the FEDAS code part of the product labelling. FEDAS makes more precise documents for comparison (harmonized sales figures etc.) available for all partners from our sector (associations, industry, trade, GfK etc.) in the medium and long term. It is therefore essential that the FEDAS Product Classification Key be incorporated in all sports oriented data processing systems."

Further information regarding the FEDAS Product Classification Key 2.0 is available from the aforementioned website www.fedas.com. It highlights, amongst other things:

a detailed description of the code;

a search program;

download functions for user files in Excel format and synoptical tables;

technical data (Excel, Access, text).

FSO is looking for further partners supporting the code

The standardization of product data and/or the regular updating of the standards is a sophisticated process and has to be supported by the entire sports goods business. The FSO as the supporting organization of the FEDAS standard is therefore an association accommodating companies from the sports goods industry, the sports goods wholesale trade and the specialist sports retail trade. The FSO sees itself as a pure service provider and a non-profit organization whose financial resources are used exclusively for the development and support of the sector’s standards.

FSO members have online access to all sectoral standards including their updates. They are informed automatically about the latest developments and profit from individual advice. Apart from enjoying direct benefits for their company, all FSO members adhere to the association’s targets. In doing so they appear in public as companies supporting efficient data transmission in the sports goods trade.

In a nutshell:

- FSO members have online access to the data of the Product Classification Key, the size and colour standards, which are currently being worked on, and the regular updates;

- FSO members get more information and advice;

- FSO members have a say in the creation of the standards;

- FSO members are listed as partners on the FEDAS website.

To conclude this subject, let us quote two important comments from Intersport International:

Reidar Magnus, Head International IT & Logistics at IIC in Bern and project manager of the FEDAS standardization project: "Without this standardization, EDI cannot be employed efficiently today. We might even claim that today’s sometimes extremely bad EDI results can to a large extent be ascribed to this weak point. The massive EDI investments, which all of us have undertaken and are still going to undertake in future, will only be reasonable when we use existing international standards – both technical and commercial – consistently within our sector."

Martin Künzi, CFO at IIC and chairman of FSO: "If we want to consolidate our leading edge on competitors from the leisure industry in the future, we will have to raise the efficiency within our sector tremendously. This can only be achieved by the efficient use of modern tools such as EDI, for which both harmonization and standardization of the systems and data structures is required. In other sectors such efforts have progressed further already as has the use of electronic auxiliaries. This is largely related to the fact that in these sectors the companies have already harmonized their operations and tools. One essential means to arrive at that goal is the use of international sectoral standards. A uniform goods group code will ultimately provide all of us – the trade and the industry – with an efficient entrepreneurial management tool, which makes it possible for us to carry out reliable sales analyses, regional and company comparisons. The Intersport group fully supports the efforts and projects carried out in this direction for the sake of the entire sports goods sector." This opinion is shared by the German Intersport board, whose chairman Hartmut Fröhlich is also represented on the board of FSO.

Wolfgang Schnellbügel and Jens Fischer, the managing directors of Sport 2000, are likewise fully convinced of the use of sectoral EDI on the basis of standardized codes. As a result, Jens Fischer is also active on the FSO board. Both of them advocated the introduction of such a code as well as the future standards on sizes and colours from the very first hour. Without such tools that all those working in the industry and the trade will have to apply equally it will be impossible to work on a value for money basis in the long run. The statutes and further information regarding the FSO can be found on the FEDAS website at www.fedas.com.