Does anyone know a defined term for this space – a company that captures product data and imagery from retailer supply chains and delivers them to the retailers e-commerce system along with any other data the retailer needs. Content creation or similar doesn’t quite capture what they do. Any ideas?

I know a company that might be able to help you called Brandbank

www.brandbank.com/

They are very strong in the FMCG sector already, but  they also have the facilities to set up a program with your suppliers for taking the shot (they have a studio), inputting any additional product data attributes that you need, setting up and then sending them automatically (via an XML feed or flat file) to your content management system, where they can either be directed straight into production, or you can set up a process to sign them off first. They also have the facilities to charge this back to your suppliers, and have the people in place to chase suppliers up (with your backing of course!)

Alternatively, you will have to speak to an industry specialist such as Cnet ( www.cnet.com/ )
who have loads of information about particular products (in this case electricals) - you can purchase information off them on a product by product basis - the risk here is product churn though - you will have to keep the data up to date yourself, where as with a company like Brandbank, they set up a relationship with your suppliers, so the onus is on them, not you....

Have past experience here, so if you have any more questions call me on 020 7961 3200

A term commonly used is PIM (Product Information Management) but often this really just means the software, not the process or service. A good software company is www.fulltilt.com (they are based in PA, USA) and a good service company is www.brandbank.com (they are based in Surrey, UK). Interestingly, Brandbank call this space "decide-at-home content and imagery". Personally I call it catalogue management. Brandbank provide a managed service which I believe is unique. I notice Andy already suggested Brandbank. GfK Group have a product called Encodex where you can buy product data for various product categories (in CSV or XML format) which complies with global standards. www.gfkms.com (they are based in Surrey, UK).

Based on my experience in this area, the major drivers are:

• ability to provide side-by-side product comparisons within an e-commerce site
• ability to provide appropriate data to third party price comparison engines
• ability to provide customers with quality information and images to close a sale

and the two biggest challenges are of course:

• sourcing the digital assets (images, videos, etc.) from the suppliers in consistent format with white background, no shadows, etc.
• sourcing the information from the suppliers in consistent format against a global standard set of product attributes (see GS1)

Retailers often don't consider the size of this problem and they just expect the suppliers to provide them with quality information to help them sell more of their products. Suppliers in turn don't think about the retailers' requirements. This problem is starting to change as people learn more about the logistics of retailing online. There have been various attempts at setting up a consortium to provide a portal for product information but these have been largely ineffective to date.

To fully understand the problem, consider the challenge an online retailer like Currys has. They sell washing machines from Hotpoint, Whirlpool, Hoover, etc. They ask each of these suppliers for product images but they come at different angle, aspect ratios, with different backgrounds, different lighting, shadows, etc. Then they all provide totally different sets of product attributes. You could argue that they all know what sells washing machines and that the only data they provide is the important data (say spin speed, door opening size, external dimensions, energy efficiency) but what happens if Hotpoint say their spin speed is 1400 RPM (revolutions per minute), Whirlpool say theirs is 1,400 RPM and Hoover say theirs is 23.33 RPS (revolutions per second)? These are all the same values but Currys must amend them all to a consistent format if they want to do side-by-side product comparisions on their web site or provide compelling search and browse functionality.

This is a problem most online retailers have. Retailers and suppliers expect each other to make the effort to find a resolution. Suppliers think that if they provide good products then the retailer will deal with the headache of not having decent product images and attributes. Maybe the suppliers with the weakest products have the most incentive to listen to the retailers' requirements? Maybe as their products get stronger the big guys will have to follow suit? At the end of the day it still comes down to the e-commerce agencies/consultants or project managers to find a solution and they ultimately work on behalf of the retailers.

This is one of the challenges with online retailing. If it was as simple as some people think then there would be a lot more excellent sites. In my opinion, the web site software is the easy bit - the difficult bit is the catalogue management, fulfillment and the customer service.