Get Started With GS1 Canada

General Merchandise and Hardlines Supplier Excellence Checklist

The product listing process can be confusing, and it is not always clear what you need to do to get started. Our checklist takes you through the basic steps, helping you to understand how to efficiently and successfully bring your products to market.

GS1 Canada can help you engage trading partners, streamline the listing process and increase visibility for your company, brand and products while meeting your Canadian trading partner and regulatory requirements for accurate and complete data.

To get started, we recommend following the basic steps below. Once you are set up and sharing product content with your trading partners, you can explore other ECCnet Industry Managed Solutions to discover how we can help improve your data quality and operational efficiency.

If you need assistance to set up your initial product catalogue or engage in any of GS1 Canada’s solutions, our Consulting Services is here to help. Give us a call at 1.800.567.7084 or email us at consulting.services@gs1ca.org.

• Step
  1
  Become a GS1 Canada Subscriber
  To subscribe, visit www.gs1ca.org/subscribe-now.
• Step
  2
  Identify Your Products
  Each of your products will need a Global Trade Item Number, or GTIN, also known as a UPC, SCC-14 or EAN.
  GTINS can be turned into visual barcodes that enable scanners to uniquely identify your products at different points in the value chain.
  There are different types of GTINs and barcodes needed for different purposes.

  • For products scanned at point of sale, including inner packs, you will likely need a GTIN-12, encoded as a UPC-A barcode
  • For cases, pallets and other shipping units, you will likely need a GTIN-14, encoded as a SCC barcode
  • Depending on your trading partners or product category, you may have specific GTIN or barcode needs.
  Find out more about GTINs at www.gs1ca.org/gtins
  Find out more about Barcodes at www.gs1ca.org/gtins/
  Depending on your subscription level, you will either create your own GTINs or have individual GTINs assigned to you. If you are a member of another GS1 member organization, you can obtain your GTINs through them and register them with GS1 Canada.
  If you distribute products on behalf of another organization, you will need to be authorized to create or use GTINs on their behalf. Visit www.gs1ca.org/prefix-authorization to get started.
• Step
  3
  Barcode Your Products
  Create your barcode symbols with GS1 Canada’s Barcode Generator, an all-in-one tool to create high-resolution barcode symbols based on your GS1 Global Trade Identification Numbers (GTIN). Visit www.gs1ca.org/barcode-generator to get started.
• Step
  4
  Allocate Internal Resources
  Determine who will manage your product catalogue, marketing, planogram and eCommerce assets and other processes. Make sure they have access to the right GS1 Canada tools and services by setting them up in GS1 Canada’s subscriber portal, myGS1.
• Step
  5
  Determine Your Content Loading Method
  The easiest way to load product data into ECCnet Registry is through GS1 Canada’s dedicated loading tool, ProSYNC.
  If you already use a GDSN (Global Data Synchronization Network) data pool or EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) to load product data, you can use these to load into ECCnet Registry.
  Find out more about your content loading options at www.gs1ca.org/content-capture.
• Step
  6
  Certify Your Product Catalogue
  To ensure you are providing the product data needed by retailers in the General Merchandise and Hardlines sector, you need to submit your product catalogue for certification.
  To do this,

  1. Select General Merchandise and Hardlines as your channel of distribution within ECCnet Registry and load up to ten GTINs.
  2. Email ECCnetSupport@gs1ca.org to request catalogue certification, telling us which trading partners you intend to do business with.
  3. GS1 Canada will identify which catalogue certifications you need and work with you to ensure you have entered all product data correctly.
  As you add trading partners, especially if they are in a different sector, you may need to submit your product catalogue for additional certification.
  If you are unsure whether you need additional certifications, contact your account manager or GS1 Canada Industry Support Services at 1.800.567.7084.
• Step
  7
  Publish Product Data to Your Trading Partners
  Upload the rest of your product data and publish your catalogue to your trading partners.
  Advise your trading partners that your ECCnet catalogue is updated and published to them. They will need to subscribe to your product catalogue in ECCnet Registry for visibility to your data.
• Step
  8
  Capture your Data and Images
  GS1 Canada offers product image and data capture services for a range of business processes such as developing marketing content, shelf management, menu planning, nutrition analysis and populating online platforms.
  We offer a range of flexible options for capturing and loading product content. Choose the option that best fits your trading partner requirements.
  To view and download your product images, register for The Vault, which provides secure 24/7 access to all your content and is used to share that content with your trading partners.