VICS to intitiate study on UPC, EDI benefits - UPC codes and electronic data interchange

Discount Store News, April 11, 1988 by Arthur Markowitz

VICS to Initiate Study On UPC, EDI Benefits

By Arthur Markowitz

Nationwide DSN Report

A major study will be launched within the next few months to determine the benefits that retailers gain from using the UPC bar code and electronic data interchange (EDI) standards that have become the criteria for general merchandise suppliers and sellers.

The study will be sponsored by VICS, the voluntary committee that has over the last two years sparked the adaption of UPC Version A bar code for marking general merchandise and developed as EDI communication format that has become the standard for hard goods and apparel retailers and manufacturers.

VICS' steering committee has authorized Kurt Salmon Associates, a management consultant company, to prepare the groundwork for the study by developing a statement of the inquiry's scope and a request for proposals. That statement and request, to be ready within three months, will be the basis for marketing and consulting firms to bid on conducting the study.

The study itself reflects a major change in VICS' mission. Previously, the ad hoc committee of executives from the general merchandise retailing and manufacturing fields focused on developing general acceptance for the UPC and EDI standards. VICS' focus has now been expanded to include spurring the greatest number of merchants and suppliers to use these standards.

Besides the proposed study, VICS, on its own and in conjunction with other groups, is carrying out its augmented mission by:

Issuing the technical UPC and EDI specifications for the general merchandise retailing and manufacturing industries. The actual publications are available from the Uniform Code Council (8163 Old Yankee Road, Suite J, Dayton, Ohio 45459, phone: (513) 435-3870) which is the central management and information center for retailers and vendors using this technology.

The publications include "UPC Marking Guidelines for Apparel and General Merchandise," "Symbol Locations Guidelines" and "VICS EDI Standard." The marking guidelines include diagrams for vertical ticket and horizontal ticket formats.

Developing the code 128 standard for case coding and shipping container marking. The specs, currently undergoing qualification tests, still need to be sanctioned by UCC's board of governors, which is expected to approve the standards by May 10.

Turning over administration of the VICS EDI standard, which is based on the ANSI X12 standard, to the UCC. This step will aid the development of compatible communication standards between VICS'EDI ststem and the Uniform Communication Standard format used by the supermarket industry. USC has been administered since its inception by UCC.

VICS has urged that all new EDI systems between general merchandise retailers and manufacturers be in a format compatible to UCS. The only exceptions would be cases where overwhelming industry communication needs prevent compatibility.

Detailing "pragmatic guidelines," as opposed to standards, for more predictable placement" of UPC tickets on merchandise, particularly apparel. The guidelines were developed by VICS' General Merchandise and Apparel Implementation Committee headed by William Sumner, Bullocks vice president, information systems.

With standard locations of tickets on similar merchandise, retailers "will be able to more consistently scan goods and get better collection of data," said David M. Carlson, K mart vp, corporate information systems, and a VICS technical committee member.

Releasing a report on a "recommended" large-scale price lookup system for use by retailers such as discounters and conventional department stores "whose inventory may contain over one million different items."

Other formats can be used for large, price lookup systems, Carlson said, because the VICS proposal, which has not been copyrighted, is just one approach. "VICS wants vendors and other parties to use their ingenuity to develop formats that meet their own needs," he said.

VICS' retail technology subcommittee proposed a four-level, price lookup architecture as a flexible merchandise file in which the information captured at one level provides the key to access the information at the next level. The "theoretical file design described in the report is a voluntary guideline" for equipment manufacturers, retailers, consultants and other interested parties "to assist in the development for equipment and software," the subcommittee stated in the report's preface.

In the VICS approach, the Level 1 UPC number file leads to the Level 2 file containing the price/style/description code. This information is then used to obtain the Level 3 descriptor table file, which is used by the POS network to produce the description of the items on a sales ticket. This file leads to the Level 4 global file which contains the promotional (percent off) information.

Involving VICS members as speakers on UPC and EDI orientation sessions being held by the National Retail Merchants Association and the UCC in various cities.

The NRMA sessions will be held in New York on April 27 and May 18 at NRMA's head-quarters, in Los Angeles on June 6 at the Hilton and Towers Hotel and in Chicago on Aug. 3 at the Westin O'Hare Hotel. (Information on the sessions is available from the Conference Registrar, NRMA, 100 W. 31 St., New York, N.Y. 10001. Phone: (212) 244-5113.)