ETIM NORTH AMERICA · FOR MANUFACTURERS & DISTRIBUTORS
Turning Product Data into Profit
How ETIM helps manufacturers and distributors drive efficiency, cut costs, and grow revenue—by solving the standardization problem at the heart of product data.
Your product data is either working for you or costing you. Here’s how the companies gaining ground in the electrical industry have decided to make it work.
If you’re a manufacturer or distributor in the electrical industry, you already know the problem—even if you’ve never put a name to it.
Every trading partner (and tech platform) wants your product data in a different format. Your teams spend weeks reformatting, cleaning, and normalizing information that should flow automatically. New product launches stall because the data isn’t ready. Customers struggle to find what they need in your online catalog—and when they can’t, they buy somewhere else.
This isn’t a technology problem. It’s a standardization problem. And it has a solution that major manufacturers and distributors around the world are already using.
What is ETIM?
ETIM is the international classification standard for electrical products. Think of it as a universal format for product data: a single, consistent way to describe and share product information across companies, systems, and borders.
With ETIM, a manufacturer describes their products once, and that information flows cleanly to distributors, e-commerce platforms, and ERP systems—without manual reformatting. A distributor receives structured, consistent data from every supplier—ready to load, search, and sell.
ETIM isn’t a software product or a platform. It’s an open, industry-governed standard—built by manufacturers, distributors, and industry experts, for the industry. It’s already adopted in more than 20 countries, available in 17+ languages, and supported by some of the biggest names in the electrical sector worldwide.
The Real Cost of Doing Nothing
Inconsistent product data doesn’t just create headaches for data teams. It hits the business where it matters most:
Higher operating costs. Manual data cleanup is labor-intensive and ongoing. Every hour spent reformatting product information is an hour not spent on higher-value work.
Slower time-to-market. Product launches and catalog updates stall because data has to be reworked for every channel and every partner. Your competitors who move faster gain the shelf space.
Lost revenue. When customers can’t find the right product—or find incomplete specs—they go elsewhere. Poor product data is invisible lost revenue.
Supply chain friction. When manufacturers and distributors can’t exchange data cleanly, it creates delays, errors, and added cost at every handoff in the chain.
These aren’t IT problems. They’re business problems—and they compound over time.
How Manufacturers Win with ETIM
For manufacturers, ETIM changes the economics of product data.
Cut the cost of data management. Instead of reformatting product data for every distributor and channel, you classify your products once and that data works everywhere. Manufacturers adopting this approach report up to 40% reduction in data management costs.
Get products to market faster. Standardized data cuts product onboarding time dramatically—new products reach distributor catalogs and e-commerce platforms in days, not weeks.
Compete on a global stage. Your international customers already expect ETIM-classified data. Adopting ETIM positions you for global markets—not just domestic ones.
Stand out in digital channels. Products with rich, structured data see up to 3x higher search visibility. When buyers can find exactly what they need with precise specs, you win the order.
How Distributors Win with ETIM
For distributors, ETIM turns product data from a constant drain into a competitive advantage.
Eliminate manual data cleanup. ETIM-classified data arrives structured and ready to use—no more burning staff hours normalizing product information from hundreds of manufacturers. Distributors report up to 60% less time spent on data normalization.
Grow e-commerce revenue. Better product data means better search, better filtering, and fewer wrong orders. Rich, structured data drives up to 25% improvement in search-to-purchase conversion.
Streamline your supply chain. Clean data exchange reduces order errors by up to 30%—fewer returns, faster onboarding, and lower operational overhead across your supplier base.
Future-proof your digital investment. Every digital initiative—ERP, PIM, e-commerce, automation—runs better on standardized data. ETIM provides the one foundation that scales across all systems.
The Bigger Picture: Why This Matters for the Industry
ETIM isn’t just a company-level improvement; it’s an industry-level shift.
When manufacturers and distributors share a common data standard, the entire supply chain moves faster and costs less. Products get to market sooner. Customers find what they need. Errors and returns drop. And every digital initiative—from e-commerce to automation to analytics—runs on a stronger foundation.
Importantly, ETIM complements the systems and standards you already use. It works alongside solutions like IDEA’s HDM—it doesn’t replace your infrastructure, it makes it work better. ETIM is the foundation layer that ties everything together.
Who’s Already on Board
The companies shaping the electrical industry’s future aren’t waiting. They’re already ETIM North America members:
Manufacturers: Siemens, Schneider Electric, Eaton, Rockwell Automation, ABB, Legrand, Leviton, Lutron, Atkore
Distributors: Sonepar, Graybar, WESCO, Rexel Canada
Industry Associations: NAED, IDEA, NEMA, Electro-Federation Canada, NEMRA
These organizations aren’t evaluating ETIM. They’re building on it. They’re shaping the standard through the Product Expert Committee(s) and investing in a data infrastructure that will define how the industry operates for decades to come.
The Question Isn’t Whether—It’s When
The electrical industry is converging on ETIM. The standard is set. The global momentum is real—20+ countries and growing. The major manufacturers and distributors in North America are already at the table.
The question for your organization isn’t whether the industry will standardize on ETIM. It’s whether you’ll be among the companies that shape the standard—or the ones that have to catch up later.
ETIM North America membership gives you a seat at that table. You get to influence how the standard evolves for the North American market, access the tools and resources that support adoption, and join the network of manufacturers, distributors, and associations driving this forward.
Ready to learn more?
Whether you’re a manufacturer looking to streamline how you share product data, or a distributor ready to stop cleaning up after every supplier—we’d welcome a conversation about how ETIM fits your business.
← 10 Reasons Manufacturers Are Adopting ETIM for Product Data
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ETIM North America is a non-profit regional member of ETIM International, responsible for supporting the adoption of the ETIM classification standard in the North American wholesale electrical industry and associated verticals. For membership inquiries, contact info@etim-na.org.