One source of truth for plants, products, machines and garden furniture.
Live plants with a botanical name and a flowering season, potting soil and fertilisers with a label prescribed by law, machines with a battery platform and a noise level, garden timber that will soon have to be traceable. Four worlds in one assortment, managed in one product tree and published automatically to garden centres, DIY chains, marketplaces and your webshop.
Product fiche · automatic
liveIn March everything comes together, and half of it only exists in the product manager's head.
The DIY chain rejects 300 articles because country of origin and net weight have been mandatory in the GS1 data model since November. A garden centre asks for flowering months, planting months and position as filter values. A species on the Union list is still in the webshop. bol rejects the weedkiller because the Belgian authorisation number is missing. And the webshop promises 'fits all 18 V batteries', which is not true.
A GS1 model that changes four times a year
The Benelux data model for DIY, garden and pet counts some 3,400 data elements. Country of origin, net weight, packaging type and the eco-voucher flag have become blocking validations. Whoever manages one Excel per retailer falls behind every quarter.
Four regulations in one assortment
Plant passport and Union list for the live part, authorisation numbers and CLP phrases for the products, noise and batteries for the machines, the deforestation regulation for garden timber and furniture. Each asks for different specifications, and the product manager gets all four on their plate.
The season decides
Garden centres make more than a third of their annual revenue in March, April and May. Whoever does not have their in-bloom images, flowering months and sales window ready in February misses the year.
Product data in order in the garden sector
A 36-page working guide for product and marketing managers at growers, suppliers and garden centres with a mixed assortment. No PIM theory, but what you actually do.
- A field model for the garden sector you can adopt right away: the botanical sheet, the formulation and authorisation, the model and the battery platform, timber species and origin
- The GS1 Benelux data model for DIY, garden and pet, the GPC and Floricode codes, botanical naming, the battery platforms and the requirements of bol, ManoMano and the garden centres
- What is specific to the garden sector: the plant passport, the Union list, amateur versus professional plant protection, biocides, the fertiliser regulation, the deforestation regulation for garden timber, noise and batteries of garden machines
- A one-month plan, from Excel inventory to a first channel fed automatically
- Excel works, until it doesn't
- The field model for the garden sector
- From botanical name to battery platform: the codes and channels of the garden
- Plants, products, machines and timber: four regulations in one assortment
- From one source to every channel
- Live in one month: what it costs and returns
Four product worlds, one product tree, every channel its own version.
Own specification groups per product world
The botanical sheet for plants, the formulation and authorisation for products, the model and the battery platform for machines, timber species and origin for furniture. Identification, packaging, compliance and assets are the same for all groups, so one PIM stays clear.
The GS1 data model as one layer
The GS1 specifications form one layer in the model, with the validations of the current release; with a new release you adjust the mapping, not your data. The readiness shows which articles still lack a country of origin, net weight or eco-voucher flag before you deliver via My Product Manager or GDSN.
Channel rules that make mistakes impossible
Articles with a /P/B authorisation never go to consumer channels, whichever employee creates them. Species on the Union list are blocked after the sales date. Per channel the right authorisation number (Belgium or the Netherlands) with the literal CLP phrases.
Images and season as data
Images get a type and a season (in bloom, in winter dormancy, in pot, in the garden), so the webshop and the leaflet do not show a flowering plant in November and the trade gets the in-pot image. Flowering months, planting months and sales window determine what is online when.
What your product data must be able to do in the garden sector.
A selection from the field model in the whitepaper, for a grower, supplier or garden centre with a mixed assortment.
Plants
Botanical name in three fields (genus, species, cultivar) with trade name, position, hardiness, soil and water, flowering, planting and harvest months, bee and butterfly friendly, pot size and plant height, sales window, plant passport data per batch, Union list status and CITES.
Products
Authorisation number per country (xxxx/G/B or /P/B), amateur or professional, active substance and content, biocide with product type and circuit, CLP block with signal word, H and P phrases and UFI, fertiliser with PFC and NPK formula, potting soil with peat share, volume and RHP.
Machines
Drive, voltage and battery platform as a controlled list, battery and charger included, capacity in Ah and Wh, cutting width and recommended area, guaranteed sound power LWA, emission stage, connectivity and software update period, battery chemistry and weight for Bebat.
Furniture and timber
Timber species with scientific name, country of harvest, DDS reference number and FSC or PEFC certificate number per purchase lot, material and weather resistance, maximum load according to EN 581, and for barbecues fuel, standard, gas category and output.
Identification and GS1
Article number and GTIN per variant and trade unit, GPC brick, VBN product code, CN code with country of origin and net weight, packaging type and eco-voucher flag, growing pot as packaging versus decorative pot as product.
Commercial, compliance and assets
Title and description per channel and language with sales arguments (hardy, native, produced in Belgium), manufacturer and EU responsible person, instructions per language, images per season, manual and safety sheet, and relations such as 'battery fits machine'.
The complete field model, with level (product, variant, growing batch), data type and the channel for which each field is mandatory, is in chapter 3 of the whitepaper.
From the auction to bol, all from the same source.
The garden sector has no classification of its own like ETIM, but one agreed exchange model and a series of channels with strict requirements. What each channel asks for, and what PimLayer exports per channel.
Live in one month, ready before spring.
No long IT project. This is the order from the whitepaper, as we apply it at Belgian growers and garden suppliers.
Inventory and data design
Which Excels, which channels, which product worlds. Product tree with product, variant and growing batch, specification groups per world, taxonomy (position, battery platform) and validation rules, before you import a single row.
Field model and GS1 layer
Botanical name split into genus, species and cultivar, country of origin, net weight and packaging type completed, authorisation numbers per country with the amateur or professional flag, timber species and origin requested from suppliers.
Images, season and channel rules
Images per season on the right product, flowering months and sales window as specifications, channel rules for professional products and the Union list, price and stock from the ERP.
First channel live
The GS1 database, your webshop or bol fed automatically. Then you scale up, product world by product world and channel by channel.
Frequently asked questions from the garden sector
Can PimLayer manage live plants, chemical products, machines and furniture in one product tree?
Yes. Each product group gets its own groups of specifications (the botanical sheet for plants, the formulation and authorisation for products, the model and the battery platform for machines, timber species and origin for furniture), while identification, packaging, compliance and assets are the same for all groups. That way one PIM stays clear for an assortment that mixes four worlds.
How do I deal with the season and with photos of plants?
Flowering months, planting months and the sales window are specifications on the product and the variant; channel rules use them to determine what is online when. Images get a type and a season (in bloom, in winter dormancy, in pot, in the garden), so the webshop and the leaflet do not show a flowering plant in November and the trade gets the in-pot image.
Can PimLayer deliver the GS1 Benelux data model for garden and pet?
Yes. The GS1 specifications form one layer in the model, with the validations of the current release; with a new release (four a year) you adjust the mapping, not your data. The readiness shows which articles still lack a country of origin, net weight or eco-voucher flag before you deliver via My Product Manager or GDSN.
How do I keep professional products out of the webshop and off bol?
With a channel rule on the amateur or professional flag: articles with a /P/B authorisation are never published to consumer channels, whichever employee creates them. The same rule blocks species on the Union list after the sales date and shows per channel the right authorisation number (Belgium or the Netherlands) with the literal CLP phrases.
How long does an implementation take, and do I need IT?
You usually go live within a month, 27 days on average, with onboarding included and a first channel fed automatically. PimLayer is configured, not programmed; IT mainly comes in for the link with your ERP or nursery software.
Ready to get your product data for the garden sector under control?
Whitepaper garden sector
36 pages with the field model, the GS1 data model, the four regulations and the step-by-step plan. Free as a PDF, in Dutch.
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