Building Material merchants are telling suppliers their product information won't be accepted unless it's in a specific industry template. The data usually already exists. It's just sat in PDFs, spec sheets and ERP exports nobody can use.

In this masterclass for the building materials sector, we break down the pressure coming from CCPI, the Building Safety Act, EPDs and the merchants 300-field template. We also cover what's really causing the bottleneck with merchants, and the bronze, silver and gold stages of product data maturity.

If you're being asked for data in a format you can't produce, this will explain why, and what to do about it this week.

Episode Breakdown

00:00 – Why building materials suppliers are under pressure now

02:25 – CCPI, the Building Safety Act and the BMF template

07:06 – What we see inside supplier businesses every time

10:38 – Why the data is so hard to find

12:57 – The business case

15:18 – Bronze, silver and gold: what good looks like

22:53 – What you can do this week without a big project

Keywords: product data, building materials, BMF template, CCPI, product data compliance, merchant onboarding, PIM, data enrichment, product taxonomy, ETIM, digital product passport, e-commerce

Resources

Product Data Weekly Newsletter – https://productdataweekly.com

This episode discusses the importance of structured product attributes, especially for AI readiness and e-commerce success. Ben & Clare explore how missing or outdated data can hinder product discovery and customer experience.

Keywords

product data, structured attributes, AI readiness, e-commerce, product information, data enrichment, product page optimization

Key topics

Importance of structured product attributes

Challenges with outdated product data

How AI relies on structured data

Case study: Blanket product data

Strategies for data enrichment and auditing

00:00 Introduction to Product Data Operations

00:42 The Importance of Structured Attributes

02:43 Challenges in Product Data Management

05:32 Understanding Customer Needs for Attributes

08:20 AI Readiness and Product Discovery

Resources

Start with Data - https://startwithdata.com

Product Data Weekly Newsletter - https://productdataweekly.com

Millions of product descriptions say "eco-friendly", "sustainable", or "green".

Under the EU Green Claims Directive, every one of those needs evidence behind it, or it's a fine waiting to happen.

In this episode, we break down what the directive actually requires, why most catalogues are full of claims nobody can substantiate, and how to audit thousands of descriptions to find them.

We also share how AI can help strip out unverified claims, plus the governance controls that stop new ones creeping back in.
If your product content mentions sustainability anywhere, watch this before the deadline does it for you.

This is part one of our series on product data regulation. Next up: the Digital Product Passport, followed by the Golden Record in construction.

Episode Breakdown
00:00 – Why green claims are a product data problem
00:28 – What counts as greenwashing under the directive
02:52 – Inventorying your claims: finding what's scattered across thousands of descriptions
05:44 – Removing unsubstantiated claims and building governance for new ones
08:03 – What's coming next: Digital Product Passport and the Golden Record

Keywords: product data, green claims, EU Green Claims Directive, sustainability claims, greenwashing, compliance, data governance, product descriptions, AI content management, e-commerce, Digital Product Passport, product data regulation

Resources
Product Data Weekly Newsletter – https://productdataweekly.com
EU Green Claims Directive – https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/eu-green-claims-directive_en

Most product pages still treat FAQs as an SEO box-tick.

But AI models are answer engines, and FAQs are answers. If yours are missing or vague, the engines go and describe your products from someone else's content.

In this episode, we break down how a heatwave, a paddling pool and a filter pump became the perfect example of what happens when compatibility questions go unanswered, why return reasons are an untapped goldmine of customer questions, and why your product page needs to become an answer engine hub.

We also share the fifteen-year-old irony behind brands that accidentally solved this problem early.

If AI search keeps skipping your brand, this will explain why.

Episode Breakdown
00:00 – Why FAQs suddenly matter (blame AI)
01:52 – The wrong pump: buying blind on answer engines
04:20 – Breaking the FAQ vicious circle
05:30 – Return reasons as FAQ fuel
06:59 – Where the traffic goes instead

Keywords: product data, FAQs, answer engines, AI search, product pages, e-commerce, return reasons, social proof, structured data, customer questions

Resources
Product Data Weekly Newsletter – https://productdataweekly.com

Supplier onboarding should be a solved problem by now.

In this episode, Ben breaks down why supplier data arrives unusable no matter how hard you push suppliers or your own team, and why the real problem is the gap between how data is collected and how the business actually needs to use it.

Ben also shares the 3 principles that fix it.

If supplier onboarding keeps resurfacing as a problem you thought you'd solved, this will explain why.

Episode Breakdown
00:00 – Why supplier data still isn't a solved problem
03:53 – Where the pain hits hardest: distribution, retail, marketplaces
05:40 – Why it's harder now than it used to be
07:30 – Machines don't guess: why ambiguity no longer survives
09:22 – The 10 to 15 back-and-forths behind every product
13:08 – The three principles: structure, usability, automation
15:17 – Structure: stop forcing suppliers into your template
18:44 – Usability: removing guesswork at the point of entry
20:35 – Automation: focus it, or just break things faster
21:30 – Real examples: how Bowens and RS Group did it
25:38 – Four steps to make onboarding something you can scale

Keywords: product data, supplier data, supplier onboarding, PIM, data enrichment, data quality, automation, marketplaces, e-commerce, digital transformation

Resources
Product Data Weekly Newsletter – https://productdataweekly.com

This is the first of our Product Data Doctor segment, where we take a real product data problem and break it down.

This one's a shoe retailer moving 11,000 products from Magento to Shopify. Most teams start by exporting everything and rebuilding the same structure on the new platform. That's usually the mistake. You just move broken data into a nicer box.

Episode Breakdown
00:00 – Introducing Product Data Doctor
01:46 – The Magento to Shopify problem
04:29 – It's not 11,000 products, it's 1,500 shoes
06:30 – Profiling: what you've actually got
07:36 – Why migration is the time to redesign your taxonomy
10:00 – Mapping and filling the gaps with AI
13:30 – Send us your product data problem

Keywords: product data, e-commerce, data migration, Magento to Shopify, product taxonomy, data profiling, product variants, attribute model, data enrichment, PIM, digital transformation

Resources
Product Data Weekly Newsletter – https://productdataweekly.com

Akeneo just acquired PricingHub, which got us thinking about why pricing has never lived in a PIM.

This episode is about pricing, PIM, and why the two have stayed apart for so long.

Episode Breakdown
00:00 – The Akeneo and PricingHub acquisition
03:13 – Reason 1: product data and price run on different clocks
05:41 – Reason 2: price isn't a content problem
07:33 – Reason 3: one product, many prices
09:35 – Why PricingHub looks like an AI play
11:37 –  Pricing comes up in 70% of PIM projects

Keywords: product data, e-commerce, pricing, PIM, Akeneo, PricingHub, dynamic pricing, ERP, B2B distribution, pricing matrix, digital transformation

Resources:
Product Data Weekly Newsletter – https://productdataweekly.com

Manufacturers and distributors think they're dealing with different product data problems. They're not. It's the same problem, viewed from opposite sides of the fence.

In this masterclass episode, we focus on industrial solutions and electronic components, and the product data flow between manufacturers and distributors. We break down why the data nearly always exists but stays buried (in someone's head, an ERP, or a PDF nobody's digitised), why that bottleneck delays launches, frustrates sales teams and creates compliance risk, and what it's actually costing you.
We also share ten things you can do right now to fix it (none of which need a PIM).

If product data is the bottleneck between you and your trading partners, this will show you where it's slipping.

Episode Breakdown
00:00 – Why the data exists but stays buried
04:40 – Three real examples: RS Group, Varian Group, Pacific Automation
06:54 – Same problem, opposite sides of the fence
11:00 – What slow product launches really cost
14:19 – Why the data required keeps growing (and DPP is coming)
20:06 – Why supplier data onboarding isn't a PIM problem
28:19 – Ten things you can do now without a PIM

Keywords: product data, supplier data onboarding, industrial distribution, electronic components, data enrichment, data sheets, Digital Product Passport, compliance, new product introduction, e-commerce, B2B, digital transformation

Resources
Product Data Weekly Newsletter – https://productdataweekly.com

You'd assume the biggest retailers have moved past spreadsheets by now. Most haven't, and it's not because they're behind. In this episode, we break down why massive businesses still run their entire product catalogue off one giant spreadsheet Sharon could break on a Tuesday, why spreadsheets survive because they're bad and not despite it, and why a PIM so often just replicates the same mess in an expensive database. We also share what actually needs fixing before you swap the spreadsheet for a system. If you've ever felt behind for still running on spreadsheets, this will explain why so many others do too, and what really has to change first.

Episode Breakdown
00:00 – Why big businesses still run on one giant spreadsheet
02:57 – The three reasons teams get stuck
06:54 – Why "free" spreadsheets cost more than you think
12:20 – Why the PIM business case is so hard to prove
13:24 – Where big catalogues get dangerous
15:34 – What to fix before you move off a spreadsheet

Keywords: product data, e-commerce, spreadsheets, PIM, data governance, product data model, business case, product taxonomy, ROI, digital transformation

Resources Product Data Weekly Newsletter – https://productdataweekly.com

Most product data was written for humans. The buyers have changed.

The new buyer is an AI agent: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude. When someone asks for "an IP65-rated, 5–10kW three-phase motor for an outdoor conveyor", the agent matches that against structured data. If your attributes aren't there, you get ignored.

In this episode, Ben breaks down the shift from descriptive data, to structured data, to intent-ready data, and what you need to win when machines are doing the shopping.

If AI search keeps surfacing your competitors instead of you, this will explain why.

Episode Breakdown
The query that breaks most catalogues
Why the machines are shopping now T
he new customer journey
Descriptive data isn't enough
Structured data: what good looks like
Intent-ready data: the future Intent = outcome + constraints + context
How to get your data AI-ready

Keywords: product data, e-commerce, structured data, AI search, agentic commerce, product schema, data enrichment, PIM, buyer intent, digital transformation

Resources Product Data Weekly Newsletter, https://productdataweekly.com