{"id":11721,"date":"2022-11-10T12:52:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T11:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.atamya.com\/?p=11721"},"modified":"2026-02-27T10:35:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T09:35:29","slug":"bmecat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atamya.com\/en\/blog\/bmecat\/","title":{"rendered":"BMEcat \u2013 A Universal Exchange Format for Your Product Data"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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BMEcat Standard \u2013 For the Successful Exchange of Catalog Data<\/span><\/h2>\n

In the times of ever-evolving digitization, digital standards for date exchange have long become indispensable. After all, it\u2019s crucial for efficient product management that data can be quickly transferred back and forth between various software systems. Digital standards are a good method for realizing an uncomplicated processing of all corporate data.<\/p>\n

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What is BMEcat?<\/span><\/h3>\n

BMEcat is a standardized format for the exchange of catalog data pooled together in electronic catalogs (so-called e-catalogs) between supplier and customer. It\u2019s primarily used in the B2B sector, independently of the industry. The BMEcat format supports manufacturers and wholesale retailers in supplying the e-procurement systems of their customers with standardized electronic product catalogs.<\/strong> Those who don\u2019t use an exchange format are, instead, required to create all product data<\/a> manually in their system or typing it out manually by using print catalogs or excel sheets as a basis. Sounds tedious, doesn\u2019t it? BMEcat takes care of all this for you. In doing so, it shifts the focus to the optimal searchability and findability of one\u2019s own products in the recipients\u2019 software systems while also making them stick out against the competition.<\/p>\n

However, what even does the concept BMEcat stand for? In 1999, the Fraunhofer Institute (German Industrial Engineering IAO in Stuttgart) developed the BMEcat catalog version 1.0 in collaboration with Duisburg-Essen University. Two years later in 2001, the German Federation BME for Materials Management, Sales, and Logistics (B<\/strong>undesverband\u00a0M<\/strong>aterialwirtschaft,\u00a0E<\/strong>inkauf und Logistik e.\u202fV.) developed the more advanced version 1.2 of this BMEcat standard for electronic product catalogs. No more than five years later in 2005, finally, the most recent version of BMEcat was released, regarded as state-of-the-art by industries and experts to this day.<\/p>\n

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How does BMEcat work?<\/span><\/h3>\n

The BMEcat format is a normative description for the structure of XML files (Extensible Markup Language). This means: BMEcat determines the structure for the transfer of digital data. Based on this, software which can interpret the standard is able to automatically process all data, store received information about orderable products, and may itself also provide this information on demand to connected systems.<\/p>\n

In addition to properties, prices and order-specific data, a BMEcat file often contains a tree-like structure of product groups<\/strong> to which the articles contained in the data delivery are assigned. The information can be either generally valid or recipient-specific.<\/p>\n

Since 2005, committees concerned with e-catalogs have been privileging BMEcat as their standard format. In particular, this includes industrial bodies which develop classification standards for norming product data transfer. Paradigm examples in the area of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria are ECLASS<\/a>, ETIM<\/a>, and profiCl@ss, as well as the XML format developed by ARGE Neue Medien (which is itself based on the ETIM standard). Your country and industry may also employ other standards and norms such as UNSPSC etc.<\/p>\n

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What benefits does BMEcat offer?<\/span><\/h3>\n

BMEcat stands for a well-structured and optimized basis for data exchange across your entire product-data-related supply chain. The biggest advantage is the enormous time save when supplying e-procurement systems<\/strong> with standardized e-catalogs for customers. Besides this, however, BMEcat still has much more to offer:<\/p>\n