The Importance of Validated Data for Retail: A Technical Approach

In modern retail, product data management is no longer just a marketing issue; it’s an infrastructure matter 🏗️. Every platform, from e-commerce to ERP, up to the POS, requires consistent and reliable information. That’s why distinguishing between generic and certified data is essential ✅: this distinction affects not only accuracy but also the ability to automate workflows and securely integrate information via APIs 🔌.

Generic Data vs. Certified Data: Why IT Systems Care

Generic data often comes from unofficial sources or manual uploads. This leads to:

• Duplicate or incorrect barcodes 🚫

• Low-quality images 📸

• Incomplete or non-standardized descriptions

• Incorrectly coded variants

Technically, such data causes database inconsistencies, ERP errors ⚠️, and difficulties in synchronizing with marketplaces and advertising platforms.

Certified data, on the other hand, is validated at the source. Sentric collects it directly from brands or through verified digitization processes 🧩. Each product sheet is enriched with barcodes, optimized images, multilingual descriptions 🌍, structured variants, and normalized technical specifications.

The result: machine-readable, interoperable data ready for integration into any system.

How to Integrate Reliable Product Sheets into Systems

Retailers and brands need not only correct data but also automated pipelines ⚙️ to distribute it. With Sentric, the process works in three steps:

1. Centralization 📊: all information flows into a standardized database.

2. Public APIs 🔑: Sentric provides endpoints to retrieve certified data in real time for e-commerce, PIM, CRM, or ERP.

3. Multi-format Export 📂: catalogs can be downloaded in formats compatible with Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, or custom systems.

👉 Practical example: a retailer scans a barcode and, via Sentric API, automatically populates the ERP with title, images, description, and variants, eliminating manual input.

Example – Retrieving Product Data via Barcode

A retailer can obtain product data by simply making a call with the barcode:

curl -X GET "https://api.sentric.com/v1/products?barcode=8000500310427" \

  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>"

JSON Response (simplified):

{

  "barcode": "8000500310427",

  "brand": "Ferrero",

  "title": "Nutella biscuits 22 pezzi 304 g",

  "description": "Crema spalmabile alle nocciole e cacao",

  "images": [

    "https://cdn.sentric.com/images/nutella_350.jpg"

  ],

  "category": "Alimentari",

  "variants": [

{

"size": "350g",

"sku": "NUT-350"

},

{

"size": "750g",

"sku": "NUT-750"

}

  ],

  "seo": {

    "keywords": ["Nutella", "crema spalmabile", "Ferrero"]

  }

}

With a single query, the retailer has a complete product sheet ready for e-commerce, ERP, or POS.

Real Use Case: Retailer + Shopify + ERP

Uploading products to Shopify 🛒

With Sentric integration, retailers can select products from the validated catalog.

curl -X POST "https://api.sentric.com/v1/export" \

  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \

  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \

  -d '{

        "platform": "shopify",

        "products": ["8000500310427", "8055390111115"]

      }'

Result: a Shopify-compatible file, ready to import without manual edits.

ERP Alignment 📦

The same set of products can be sent to the ERP to update stock, variants, and descriptions.

curl -X GET "https://api.sentric.com/v1/products/updates?since=2025-01-01" \

  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Outcome: automatic ERP update with the latest validated product sheets.

Operational Benefits

• No manual image or description uploads 🙅‍♂️

• Consistent synchronization between sales channels and back office 🔄

• Product onboarding time reduced from days to minutes ⏱️

Concrete Benefits for Brands and Retailers

• Error reduction 🧹: no empty fields or inconsistent database entries

• Workflow automation 🤖: imports and syncs become scheduled processes

• Universal compatibility 🌐: validated data works on any sales platform

• Scalability 📈: retailers can manage large catalogs without extra data-entry resources

For brands, this ensures products are represented consistently ✨, avoiding errors that could damage brand perception.

From Data to Competitive Advantage

In today’s data-driven retail 📊, the difference between generic and certified data is the difference between inefficiency and scalability 🚀.

With a system like Sentric, product data becomes a reliable technical asset: structured, integrable, and ready to use. Retailers can extend it automatically to marketplaces without duplicating work.

In this way, data stops being an operational problem ⚙️ and becomes a growth and scalability engine for retail.