Supplier data is one of the biggest operational headaches in distribution, retail, and marketplaces. The data arrives late, incomplete, and in the wrong format. Teams spend weeks transforming it manually. And yet most businesses keep buying portals and templates that don't actually solve anything.

In this episode, Clare and Ben get into why the problem keeps getting worse — and lay out the three levers that actually move the needle.

In this episode:

• Why the process assumes data arrives in a usable state — and why it never does
• The real numbers: 10–15 interactions per SKU, up to a month to launch a single product
• Why jumping straight to automation without the right foundation just automates the mess
• Lever 1: Structure — how to decouple supplier onboarding from your presentational taxonomy
• Lever 2: Usability — how to remove friction without dropping data quality
• Lever 3: Automation — what it can actually do once the foundation is in place
• How to start small: one supplier, one category, one honest conversation