Walmart Seeks to Improve Internet Product Information

Walmart seeks to improve product information available online, especially from social media sources, with its Product Content Collection System (PCCS), which will facilitate the supplier sending their catalog directly to the company.

"However influential they may be, social product ratings are clearly subjective, and online product information is not always accurate and lacks consistency from site to site," Ram Rampalli, global head of content acquisition, writes on The @Walmartlabs Blog. 

With the PCCS program, a specification (a set of instructions including the list of attributes, requirement level, data transfer protocol) will be provided to the supplier to use as a framework for sharing this data with Walmart.

"We are encouraging suppliers to provide us with product content for their entire catalog, whether or not it is currently carried within the Walmart retail eco-system. We also welcome content from suppliers who currently don’t sell on Walmart," wrote Rampalli.

Although labeled a 'pilot' on the @WalmartLabs blog, Rampalli told FierceRetailIT it is not a test, but an ongoing initiative.

"Our goal is to provide the most accurate, up-to-date, and comprehensive product information to our customers – regardless of how they shop – to improve the shopping experience for our customers," Rampalli writes on the blog. 

"As long as the data comes to us through the right channel, and is approved by the supplier, we can import it, and customers can use it/will benefit from it," follows Rampalli. 

The program is expected to launch later this year.