Our Approach
Among our experiences operating a leading independent electrical distributorship, we learned first-hand the challenges and pitfalls of entering the online marketplace and building an e-commerce website. After running into the major challenge of gathering product data from many disparate manufacturers to populate the site while making it useful to our customers, it became painfully apparent that there was a distinct lack of technology in the distribution industry for this purpose. It was this experience in particular that led us to re-think the approach to obtaining and working with product data, and most importantly, how to make it most useful to the end user experience. This approach created DDS.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
- We recognize that the only pure source for information is direct from manufacturers.
- We employ the most intelligent technologies to gather this data and apply high-technology concepts, borrowed from sciences like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, to bring solutions that are unique to the industry.
- Our combined experience and intimate knowledge of the distribution industry allow us to focus on distribution- and customer-centric solutions.
- In addition to utilizing best practices and applications as part of our commitment to professional software development, we believe that doing things “the right way” is the only way.
Your customers want:
Complete features and specifications
Spec sheets and drawings
High-quality images and videos
Accessories and related items
Categorization and drill-down
DDS PRODUCT CONTENT
Want to see this superior product content in action? Click below for some examples of the robust, complete and accurate information that DDS delivers.
Want to know what distributors think about e-commerce?
DDS PRODUCT OFFERINGS
At DDS, we are dedicated to listening to our customers and working with them to create new and useful solutions to solve a variety of needs relevant to e-commerce.
Our solutions are:
- Designed and built specifically for the wholesale distribution industry
- Technology-agnostic
- Superior to anything in the marketplace. We guarantee it.
No matter the size of your company, or the industries or customers you serve, we can deliver best-in-class product content and data management solutions to power your e-commerce platform.
ENHANCED PRODUCT CONTENT
Comprehensive, e-commerce-ready product content, direct from manufacturers, and designed to work with any website. Put simply, we deliver the best content in the industry.
- 850+ DDS-enhanced manufacturers across Electrical, Lighting, Solar, Plumbing, HVAC, Tool, Industrial and Automation industries
- Everything a manufacturer has available for their products including features, specifications, multiple hi-res images, videos, documents (spec sheets, brochures, installation manuals, CAD drawings, 2D & 3D drawings), 360-degree product images, marketing descriptions, and more
- Our proprietary software and processes aggregate, organize, enrich, normalize and deliver the best product data available
- Designed to meet the expectations of your e-commerce customers
PRODUCT MAINTENANCE
Regular content updates and enhancements, managed by us and included in your subscription, ensure your customers are always viewing the latest products and most complete information. And it saves your staff time!
- Regular product content updates (new, updated, enhanced products) managed for you
- Delivered as part of your monthly scheduled export, or real-time via the API
- Change reporting to keep you informed of detailed product updates
CATEGORY MANAGEMENT
Intelligent product category management and prediction, managed by DDS and delivered as part of your monthly export (or real-time via API), and including:
- E-Commerce categories
- UNSPSC categories
- ETIM categories
- Custom categories
CUSTOM EXPORTS
No matter the platform, we can build a custom export that allows for seamless integration into your PIM, ERP, App or product content management system.
- Custom exports are designed for each customer’s unique e-commerce platform or application
- Designed and scheduled so you can simply and quickly import to your system (a.k.a. faster time-to-market)
- Allows us to be technology-agnostic
API INTEGRATION
Our powerful RESTful API allows you direct access to our ever-growing list of data solutions, giving you greater scalability and flexibility to power your e-commerce application.
- Updated products and product content features, available real-time, without need for exports
- Includes all DDS product content features (including categories, facets, search, accessory + related products, etc.)
- Designed for those who want maximum functionality to create advanced e-commerce applications
NORMALIZED FACETS
A key part of our intelligent, unrivaled approach to complete Taxonomy Management, this translates to normalized drill-down refinements for easy product selection:
- Allows for consistent, organized presentation of product information across all manufacturers/product types
- Facet and facet value normalization across entire product set
NORMALIZED CUSTOM CONTENT
Adhering to your unique normalized spec is something we do at scale, ensuring accurate and uniform presentation of content to your customers, and quicker time to market.
- Programmatic approach ensures consistency and repeatability
- Our proprietary normalization and rules engine is designed to accurately match distributors’ unique specifications
- Unmatched attention to detail for large-scale projects
- Our advanced technological approach provides exponentially faster turnaround times than typical data providers
REPORTING
Keeping you informed of your product content updates is another value-add service that is useful in your sales and marketing communications.
- Monthly “DDS Data Insights” email outlines specific updates to product content as well as updates on your specific projects
- Granular change reports keep you informed of detailed product updates, down to the individual product level (i.e. changes to a particular image, attribute or spec sheet)
- Helps you keep up with constantly-changing product information/availability inherent in the industry
- Useful information for your e-commerce team, as well as your executives, sales force, manufacturer reps and customers
TRANSLATED CONTENT
An industry exclusive: Complete product content delivered world-wide in any language, allowing you to service your international customer base.
- Translation process specifically built based on unique wholesale distribution requirements and realities
- Includes proper locale and unit of measure conversions
- Content is translated by DDS, with third-party human validation, for use with your PIM, ERP, App or product content management system
- Delivered as part of your monthly exports or API integration
- Currently offer English (en-GB, en-US), Spanish (es-ES, es-MX), French, German, Portuguese, Mandarin, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Polish, Czech and Dutch. Available in any major language.
PRODUCT FILE MATCHING
Not all product files are created equal! Other providers offer standard (one-size-fits-all) exports requiring significant, manual matching on your end before products can even be imported into your system. We have done extensive development that automates the process for you. As a result, your monthly exports or API requests already contain your unique product IDs and are ready for immediate use, saving you countless hours associated with manually matching files.
- Proprietary matching engine designed specifically to streamline this process
- Utilizes your current product file and matches your unique product IDs to the manufacturers’ catalog numbers and UPCs
- Assists you with building/maintaining clean, organized product files across multiple enterprise systems
DOCUMENT + IMAGE HOSTING
Image, document and video hosting using the Amazon AWS content delivery network, with the fastest load times and unmatched reliability.
- Saves you from having to manage hundreds of gigs of files, which can be difficult and costly
- Our proprietary image processor converts original images to e-commerce-friendly thumbnail, small, medium, large and native sizes
MANUFACTURER SOURCING
We can help source additional manufacturer content not readily available from other providers, so you can offer your customers complete content for all your product lines. And we are in regular contact with manufacturers to continually add to our list of suppliers.
We help you streamline your business and technology processes to deliver the best product content to your authorized distributors and, ultimately, your joint customers. Our solutions maximize your e-commerce exposure—and with it, the customer experience with your brand(s).
Click here for more information on our
PRODUCT CONTENT SYNDICATION
For the first time ever, you have a technologically-savvy partner who can help you syndicate your content to distributors with intelligent, programmatic enhancements that make it ready for their e-commerce systems, while retaining your original message. There are no limitations as to the amount or type of content we can deliver, and no requirements on your part, saving you significant time and resources. Together, we deliver the best content in the industry.
- Working with 850+ of the industry’s top manufacturers
- Our proprietary software and processes aggregate, organize, enrich, normalize and deliver the best product data available to your distributors via a syndicated subscription model
- Everything you have produced and made available for your products including features, specifications, multiple hi-res images, videos, documents (spec sheets, brochures, installation manuals, CAD drawings, 2D & 3D drawings), 360-degree product images, marketing descriptions, and more
- We create a custom import for each manufacturer/product line, so there are no rigid specs, and no additional resource needs on your end
- Preserving original manufacturers’ message helps increase sales and improve the end-user experience with your brand
- Our solutions are technology-agnostic, working on any platform, and available to authorized distributors with an e-commerce site
PRODUCT MAINTENANCE
Manufacturers know better than anyone that products and their attributes can change rapidly and frequently, which can present a challenge for relaying information to distributors, and ultimately end users. Our solutions address this head-on. Regular content updates and enhancements, managed by us, ensure that distributors are more easily able to present end-user customers with the latest and most complete information on your products.
- Regular and convenient delivery options to meet each distributor’s unique needs
- Delivered as part of their monthly scheduled exports, or real-time via our API
- Change reporting keeps distributors informed of detailed product updates
ETIM CLASSIFICATION
We are able to classify manufacturer products into the ETIM classification standard quickly, easily and cost-effectively.
- Thousands of products can be classified and validated in a matter of days (vs. months)
- Quick and accurate classification of products into ETIM version 7.0 groups, classes and features
- Built upon DDS’ proprietary and proven internal categorization tools
CONTENT TRANSLATIONS
Complete product content translated into any language, allowing manufacturers and distributors to service customers in their language of choice.
- Translation process specifically built based on unique wholesale distribution requirements and realities
- Includes proper locale and unit of measure conversions
- Content is translated by our proprietary translation engine, with third-party human validation, for use in distributors’ PIM, ERP, App or product content management systems
- Currently offering English (en-GB, en-US), Spanish (es-ES, es-MX), French, German, Portuguese, Mandarin, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Polish, Czech and Dutch. Available in any major language.
We work with other industry partners—from technology and e-commerce providers, to manufacturer’s reps, marketing groups and trade associations—to design solutions for a variety of business challenges relevant to e-commerce.
ENHANCED PRODUCT CONTENT
Comprehensive, e-commerce-ready product content, direct from manufacturers, and designed to work with any website. Put simply, we deliver the best content in the industry.
- 850+ DDS-enhanced manufacturers across Electrical, Lighting, Solar, Plumbing, HVAC, Tool, Industrial and Automation industries
- Everything a manufacturer has available for their products including features, specifications, multiple hi-res images, videos, documents (spec sheets, brochures, installation manuals, CAD drawings, 2D & 3D drawings), 360-degree product images, marketing descriptions, and more
- Our proprietary software and processes aggregate, organize, enrich, normalize and deliver the best product data available
- Designed specifically to meet the expectations of today’s e-commerce customers
PRODUCT MAINTENANCE
Regular content updates and enhancements, managed by us and included in subscriptions, ensure your distributors are always provided the latest products and most complete information.
- Regular product content updates (new, updated, enhanced products) managed for you and your distributors
- Delivered as part of your scheduled export
- Change reporting to keep you and your distributors informed of detailed product updates
NORMALIZED CUSTOM CONTENT
Adhering to your unique normalized spec is something we do at scale, ensuring accurate and uniform presentation of content on your distributors’ websites, and quicker time to market.
- Programmatic approach ensures consistency and repeatability
- Our proprietary normalization and rules engine is designed to accurately match your unique specifications
- Unmatched attention to detail for large-scale projects
- Our advanced technological approach provides exponentially faster turnaround times
REPORTING
Keeping you informed of product content updates relevant to your requirements is another value-add service that can also be useful in your member communications.
- Monthly “DDS Data Insights” email outlines specific updates to product content as well as updates on your specific projects
- Granular change reports keep you informed of detailed product updates, down to the individual product level (i.e. changes to a particular image, attribute or spec sheet)
- Helps you keep up with constantly-changing product information/availability inherent in the industry
- Useful information for your e-commerce team, as well as your members and manufacturers
CONTENT TRANSLATIONS
An industry exclusive: Complete product content translated to any language, allowing you and your distributors to service their international customer base.
- Translation process specifically built based on your unique requirements and realities
- Includes proper locale and unit of measure conversions
- Content is translated by our proprietary translation engine, with third-party human validation, for use in distributors’ PIM, ERP, App or product content management systems
- Currently offering English (en-GB, en-US), Spanish (es-ES, es-MX), French, German, Portuguese, Mandarin, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Polish, Czech and Dutch. Available in any major language.
MANUFACTURER SOURCING
We can help source additional manufacturer content not readily available from other providers, so you can offer your distributors and customers complete content for all your group and/or member product lines. And we are in regular contact with manufacturers to continually add to our list of suppliers.
PRICING FAQs
How do you determine pricing?
Our pricing is based on your needs and the DDS tools you choose to use. Once we’ve had a chance to talk, we can recommend the best solutions for your company.
Is your pricing a subscription service?
Yes, we offer subscription-based solutions that cover the setup and regular maintenance of product content (including addition of new products) that you will receive.
Do you offer a per-SKU solution?
Yes, we offer per-SKU options for select large-scale e-commerce needs.
Can I update my product and service suite at any time?
Yes. As your organization or needs grow, we will work with you to make sure you are set up with the right tools and services that best suit your e-commerce goals.
Can DDS pull product content from my existing systems?
Yes, we can set up data exports from your existing ERP, PIM or product content management systems to get necessary information into our database as part of your hosted product set.