BETHESDA, Md. – The Automotive Warehouse Distributors Association (AWDA) has announced a new Minimum Common Requirement for product information that will satisfy the product data needs of most of its members. The AWDA Minimum Common Requirement is based upon the Product Information Exchange Standard (PIES) published by the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) and promises to simplify and lower the cost of complying with product data requirements in the automotive aftermarket, according to AWDA.
The members of AWDA include all of the leading program distribution groups and traditional aftermarket wholesale operators, along with the majority of their key suppliers. The AWDA Minimum Common Requirement was designed to satisfy the common product data requirements of the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance, the Automotive Distribution Network (ADN), Federated Auto Parts, National Pronto Association and numerous independent distributors and suppliers.
“Competing, disparate mandates for electronic files and updates are expensive and time-consuming for suppliers to satisfy,” said AWDA Chairman Willi Alexander, Uni-Select USA. “AWDA chose to be part of the solution by agreeing on a Minimum Common Requirement for electronic product information to satisfy the requirements of the typical automotive warehouse distributor.”
“Accurate and complete product information is essential to increasing sales and reducing returns in an on-demand, digital aftermarket,” Alexander said. “The business systems of AWDA members run on data, and our goal is to give our suppliers a single target to aim for that satisfies most AWDA member requirements.”
The AWDA Minimum Common Requirement is comprised of 60 fields from PIES that are typically required by most warehouse distributors. These include weights, dimensions, packaging, pricing, classifications, descriptions and other basic fields related to regulatory compliance, logistics and supply chain operations. A simple delimited format is specified, reducing the technology required to send and receive data files.
Suppliers can learn more about the AWDA Minimum Common Requirement from the link on the AWDA website, or by visiting the Technology page on AAIA’s website.
