What causes product data errors in industrial distribution?

Why do product data errors happen between manufacturers and distributors?

Errors can enter product data at six points in the exchange between a manufacturer and a distributor, and each point involves a different kind of breakdown. The scenarios below show how each can appear in a distributor’s catalog, starting with how a spec’s original purpose carries over into a new use.

1. Recognize that data built for one purpose gets used for another

Accurate technical specs in a manufacturer’s records can still produce errors once a distributor uses them for a different job. 

Consider a manufacturer whose length field records the overall length of a packed item for freight calculations, and the distributor’s website displays the same value as the product length buyers filter on. The value is correct for the manufacturer’s purpose and wrong for the buyer’s, and nobody made a typing mistake. 

Data prepared for engineering, ordering, or print carries the assumptions of that original use, and those assumptions remain unstated until the distributor applies the field to search, filtering, or product substitution.

2. Notice where manual re-keying enters the handoff

Specs often travel between companies in files and spreadsheets, and each format needs someone to retype or re-map the values before they reach the distributor’s system. 

Take a voltage range the manufacturer lists as a single value, and the distributor’s template splits it into minimum and maximum fields, leaving the person loading the file to decide how to divide it. Two people can divide the same range differently, and dimensions follow the same pattern when one side records inches, and the other expects millimeters. 

Each of these decisions repeats for every supplier and every update, so the number of places where a value can change in transit grows with the size of the catalog.

3. Spot the gap between each side’s definition of “complete”

Two companies can use the same field name for a spec and still assign it different meanings, along with different minimum requirements for each product category.

Say one distributor treats ten product attributes as the minimum for a category and another requires twenty, and “size” refers to diameter in one template and overall length in another. 

The manufacturer then supplies a single record that meets one definition of complete and falls short of the other, so the same item looks finished in one catalog and unfinished in the other.

4. Identify who owns accuracy when data crosses between companies

Ownership of accuracy becomes unclear once data leaves the manufacturer’s systems and enters the distributor’s, because each company controls only its own copy.

 A manufacturer that corrects a value in its records can assume the distributor received the update, and the distributor can assume the manufacturer would have flagged any change, leaving the old value in place and letting the distributor publish outdated specs without anyone intending it. 

Without a named owner for the exchange itself, neither company has a reason to check that the two copies still match.

5. Check what happens to a file the moment it arrives

A file can enter the distributor’s system exactly as sent, with no step that compares its values against the distributor’s requirements. 

Consider a supplier file that arrives with a blank attribute and a unit typed into the value column, and the system accepts both and publishes the listing. The first sign of the problem is then a buyer ordering the wrong part or a customer service call, so the error returns to the distributor through a customer instead of a check. The manufacturer and the distributor learn about it only after the item has reached the buyer.

6. Account for products that depend on relationships between items

Product catalog management covers how products relate to variants and accessories, and a flat record for a single item doesn’t hold those relationships for kits, compatible parts, and replacement parts.

Take a kit that reaches the distributor as one record without its component list, or a replacement part that points to a part number the manufacturer has since discontinued. 

Every attribute on each record can be correct, and the buyer can still receive incomplete or incorrect product information. 

Errors like this are hard to catch in a field-by-field review because each value passes on its own, and the fault lies in the missing connection.

How can you reduce or eliminate these errors?

You can reduce these errors at the points where they enter, and the actions below match the causes above, so you can pair each error in your catalog with the change that addresses it.

1. Agree on what each field means and which attributes are required

Write down what each field you send means, including the use it serves and the unit it records, and ask each distributor which attributes it requires per category. Sharing those definitions before the next file goes out lets each company read a value the same way.

2. Name one owner for the exchange

Assign one person or team at your company to confirm that each corrected value reaches the distributor’s copy, and ask the distributor to name a counterpart so every update has a recipient who checks the match.

3. Bring supplier data in as sent and check it on arrival

Retyping decreases when your platform accepts supplier data as it arrives, which is how Inriver’s flexible data model works, with no cleanup or ETL project beforehand. Content Onboarding then reviews each file before it enters the PIM and flags missing values, incorrect formats, and blocked rows, which suits teams that receive specs through spreadsheets, supplier exports, or ERPs.

4. Send item relationships with the records

Send the component list for each kit and the compatible and replacement part numbers for each item in the same file as its attributes, and update those links whenever a part number is discontinued.

Trace your next product data error back to the handoff

Each of the six causes above begins where one company’s data meets another company’s process, so you can find the source of an error in your catalog by following the value from the manufacturer’s record to the distributor’s listing and noting where its meaning, format, or ownership first changed. Starting with the item a buyer reported most recently gives you a concrete record to trace, and the point where the value changed shows you which of the actions above to apply first.

Inriver works as a PIM for catalog management between your ERP or PLM systems and your distributors, managing both supplier data intake and the delivery of product information to distributors through Syndicate Advance. You can add these steps without replacing the systems you currently use.

Book a personalized, guided demo to see how Inriver handles the handoff between your systems and your distributors.