In the past, vendors could submit their brand name any way they wanted, which meant there were frequent errors and inconsistencies in how the brand was presented. Because this data is used for selling tools such as Lowes.com, customers would be confused by the different versions of the same brand name.

To prevent this problem going forward, effective May 17, 2009, vendors will only be

able to submit brand names via the GDSN that are on the Lowe’s Controlled Brand List.

There will be a systematic validation on both updates and new item publications, and if

the brand field value is not valid, the vendor’s publication will fail.

Building a brand offers lots of opportunities for businesses. These benefits include customer loyalty, better and easy distribution of products, high profit and the chance to increase prices. However, in order for a business organisation to successfully create an effective brand that is capable of enhancing a product’s value, it needs to understand how the delivery of value differs across different types of brands. This means that a company has to know the kind of brand suitable for its offering. So what are the different kinds of brand? They are the following:

Product brands – These are the fast-moving inexpensive consumer goods (e.g. drinks, personal care products, confectionary, etc.) and the big-ticket expensive items (e.g. jewellery, appliances, and cars). The first groups are very easy to market since they are some sort of necessities. While the latter can be considered a luxury. They are infrequently purchased, thus the design of their brand should be carefully planned to enhance product value.

Service brands – To brand something you cannot touch and something that is delivered directly by employees is never easy. This is because in this type of brand, the service is essentially the thing that represents the brand. You cannot make brand promises when you cannot ensure satisfactory or excellent services. Thus, service brands needs to maintain and deliver a consistent high level of service.