At last month’s NAED National, ETIM North America hosted ETIM International leadership and shared information about the organization’s success with electrical distributors and manufacturers.

Mary Shaw, Executive Director of ETIM North America and Vice President, ETIM International, graciously shared an overview of what they discussed.

If eCommerce and/or AI are important to your organization, you therefore know the importance of “clean”, or at least “accurate” product data … and for all elements of the channel to have the same information. ETIM North America is helping make this happen.

Turning Product Data into Profit

How ETIM Is Helping the Electrical Industry Drive Efficiency, Cut Costs, and Grow Revenue

At this year’s NAED National Meeting, ETIM North America (NA) had the opportunity to present a focused executive briefing on the business value of the ETIM classification standard—joined by three more members of the ETIM International Board of Directors. While a packed event schedule meant not everyone could be in the room, the conversations we had with manufacturers, distributors, solution providers and association leaders reinforced what we already knew: the industry is ready for a better way to manage product data.

This article captures the core of that presentation for those who couldn’t attend / were not at NAED—and for anyone who’s been wondering what ETIM is and why so many industry leaders are getting behind it.

The Cost of the Status Quo

Every manufacturer and distributor in the electrical industry faces the same fundamental challenge: product data that doesn’t match. Manufacturers reformat data for seemingly every trading partner and every channel. Distributors spend countless hours cleaning and normalizing information from hundreds of suppliers before it can reach their ERP, PIM, or e-commerce platforms.

The business impact is real. Higher operating costs. Slower time-to-market for new products. Lost revenue when customers can’t find what they need when researching product options online. And friction across the supply chain every time data has to be manually reworked at a handoff point. These aren’t IT problems; they’re business problems that compound every year.

What ETIM Is—and What It Isn’t

ETIM is a global, industry-governed classification standard that gives every electrical product a single, consistent way to be described and shared. Think of it as a universal format for product data. A manufacturer classifies their products once, and that information flows cleanly to distributors, e-commerce platforms, and business systems—without manual reformatting. While the model is global, it is adjusted to be tailored to each country’s unique needs.
It’s not a software product or a platform. It’s an open standard (that’s been around for 35 years!) built by the industry, for the industry—and which is adopted and active in more than 20 countries, available in 17+ languages, and supported by some of the biggest names in the global electrical sector.

The Business Case

For manufacturers, ETIM means classifying products once and sharing that data everywhere – eliminating the cost and delay of reformatting for every partner. Companies adopting this approach report significant reductions in data management costs and dramatically faster product onboarding. And with international customers already expecting ETIM-classified data, adoption positions manufacturers for global competitiveness, not just domestic efficiency.

For distributors, ETIM means receiving clean, structured data from every supplier—ready to load, search, and sell. That translates to less manual normalization, better e-commerce search and filtering, fewer wrong orders and returns, and a stronger foundation for every digital initiative—from ERP integration and automation to AI-driven product discovery and SEO.

Importantly, ETIM complements the systems and standards the industry already uses. It works alongside solutions like IDEA’s HDM—providing the classification layer that describes what a product is, while HDM provides the framework for how that data gets exchanged. IDEA is a Sustaining Member of ETIM NA, and our organizations are collaborating closely because these standards are stronger together.

Who’s Already at the Table

ETIM NA’s membership already includes manufacturers like Siemens, Schneider Electric, Eaton, Rockwell Automation, ABB, Legrand, Leviton, Lutron, and Atkore; distributors including Sonepar, Graybar, WESCO, and Rexel Canada; and industry associations including NAED, IDEA, NEMA, Electro-Federation Canada (EFC), and NEMRA. Siemens, Sonepar, and NAED/IDEA/NEMA serve as Sustaining Members providing strategic leadership.
These organizations aren’t evaluating ETIM. They’re building on it—and shaping the standard for the North American market through the Product Expert Committee(s).

Getting Involved

The electrical industry is converging on ETIM. The question for your organization isn’t whether the industry will standardize; it’s whether you’ll be among the companies that shape the standard, or the ones that wait and must catch up later.

To learn more about how ETIM can benefit your business, or to explore membership, contact me directly at info@etim-na.org or visit www.etim-na.org. We also have in-depth articles on our website covering the specific value of ETIM for manufacturers and for distributors—I’d encourage you to explore those as a next step.

The standard is set. The industry is moving. We’d love for your organization to be part of it.