eCl@ss

eCl@ss was developed by industrial companies like Audi, BASF, Bayer, Siemens, and Volkswagen to standardize the exchange of product data in procurement. The standard provides a four-level class hierarchy (segment, main group, group, subgroup) and defines the allowed attributes for every class.

The benefit is concrete. A buyer can search for a screw by eCl@ss class without manually scanning every manufacturer catalog. Suppliers who classify their products in eCl@ss-compliant ways become directly discoverable in e-procurement platforms like SAP Ariba or Coupa. Compliance-relevant data (substance and dangerous goods information, for example) also follows eCl@ss structures.

Pimcore PIM offers native eCl@ss support. Classification systems can be imported, products assigned to the right classes, and attributes automatically mapped to the eCl@ss structure. When exporting to BMEcat or other exchange formats, the eCl@ss encoding is correctly embedded without manual rework.