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Not a Member? Another Reason to Join the RIA

The RIA Product Data Collaborative is LIVE!

Seamless data sharing across the entire run specialty channel - for brands, retailers and business partners.

If time is money, how much are you losing managing brand product data? 

Securing and managing brand product data (UPC codes, product descriptions, product images, etc) can feel like utter chaos. It is an incredible drain on precious staff resources, and is often fraught with human errors.

The RIA has a SOLUTION

Logo for the RIA Product Data Collaborative

The Product Data Collaborative (PDC) is the first-ever, centralized tool for accessing and managing brand product data.

"One of the most exciting developments I've seen recently is the RIA's Product Data Collaborative (PDC), which aims to centralize and standardize product data on neutral ground in a way that's accessible to all industry participants. While it'll be a big effort, it will provide standards and automation at scale that will save retailers tens of thousands of dollars per year and provide the rails for innovators like Run Free Project and our peers to transform the industry with cool new stuff never thought possible."

How it Works

In a nutshell, the PDC removes the burden of gathering, formatting, and managing brand product data.

  • The platform enables brands to easily input seasonal product data.
  • It uses artificial intelligence protocols to standardize the data.
  • Retailers easily create product assortments for uploads to POS providers, e-commerce and digital marketing solutions.

It includes hard and soft data like model number, SKU, UPC/EAN, color (description and code), size, width, wholesale cost, retail price, and images. MAP and other data will be available soon.

Simply put, the PDC promotes the ‘ease of doing business’.

Animated image of PDC functionality

Powered by Contentserv

RIA chose to partner with Contentserv, a recognized technology leader serving over 300 businesses in 89 countries, to develop the PDC. They have a proven track record as expert software developers who simplify and automate product content management for brands and specialty retailers across the globe. They know data management can waste time and create inconsistencies that hurt the customer experience. Their solutions enable businesses to spend less time fighting fragmented data and more time delivering rich, relevant and emotional product experiences that enhance their brand and ultimately delight customers.

Image of Contentserv logo

Why the RIA?

As a neutral entity within the run specialty channel, the RIA is uniquely suited to provide a centralized storehouse for brand product data - creating easy access for all existing platforms or tools that require product data and avoiding potential productization of data.

What the PDC is Not

It is neither a digital product catalog nor a competitor for any online tools provided by brands or third-party platforms. Instead, it is quite simply a ‘single source of truth’: a repository for secure clean, standardized brand data, available to all. In this fashion, the PDC acts to support brand and third-party tools and services.

Key FAQ's

Have questions or feedbackabout the development process? Shoot us an email.
pdc@runningindustry.org
Have questions or feedbackabout the development process? Shoot us an email.
pdc@runningindustry.org