The Future of Shopping Comparison and the Problem with UPC

As comparison engines and marketplaces evolve, these companies are looking for new ways to deal with millions of products from sellers, and then properly display them against items from other sellers. One of the possible solutions is to display products based on UPC code. So some may ask, what’s a UPC?

UPC stands for Universal Product Code. The product code is meant to consist of 12 digits that give a unique identifier for  every individual product. UPC is a push to standardize product information in a way that can be applied to all products, and in theory making life easier. Some engines and marketplaces are turning toward UPC as an answer to placing products in the right place, but there is a problem for vendors…many do not have UPC in their product data.

One of the main issues for standardizing data is not only resolving a set format, but then making sure sellers have the information needed. UPC presents an issue because while it seems to be a great way to integrate products, many distributors and manufacturers do not provide this information to sellers.  The seller is then stuck trying to integrate a UPC code, possibly for all variations of products including products with size, color, or other options. This creates a huge challenge as even a mid-level business can be looking at trying to add UPC values across thousands of options. Amazon is one of the leading proponents of UPC integration based on their own datafeed requirements, and other companies are following on this same path.

This creates a big dilemma for sellers: How to get a UPC value, and then how to add this to the data. The first question is hard, the next is slightly better. Depending on the data structure, the best scenario is to have a way to integrate UPC number with the option value of a product (if needed).  The best way to integrate…well, that all depends on the seller’s products, shopping cart, database, third party marketplaces…etc. Unfortunately, there is not an easy answer here. The creative burst that led to different sites and different ways of selling has led back to next challenge: How to put all this back together?

August 8th, 2007