ETIM Classification: A Shared Language,Not a Model

Open a supplier file from the electrical, plumbing or building world and you will often find a class code, a list of technical features, values picked from fixed lists, and units next to every number. That is ETIM. It is a very useful standard, and often misunderstood, because teams take a language made for exchanging data between companies and turn it into the structure of their website.

What is ETIM classification?

ETIM classification is an international standard that describes technical products in the same way across companies and languages. Each product is placed in an ETIM class, and each class comes with a predefined list of features, values and units, so a manufacturer, a wholesaler and a retailer describe the same product with the same words. ETIM International calls it "the international classification standard for technical products", available as one model in 17 languages (classification).

The key word is exchange. In the words of ETIM International itself, the model "is not a final product in and of itself": it gives structure to the data that travels between companies. It is a shared language between trading partners, not a structure designed for the people who shop on your site.

Who maintains ETIM, and which sectors use it?

ETIM is managed by ETIM International, a non-profit organization with its official seat in Margraten, the Netherlands. It describes itself as the governing body in which ETIM members worldwide are united, with twenty member organizations representing twenty-one countries. Local ETIM organizations are listed on the ETIM International home page.

ETIM was first developed for the Dutch electrotechnical sector. Today it also covers HVAC and plumbing, building materials and shipbuilding related products, including tools. In practice, this is why ETIM shows up wherever technical, construction and installation products are sold, from wholesalers serving installers to retailers selling to DIY customers.

How is the ETIM model structured?

The ETIM model information page lists six building blocks: product groups, product classes, synonyms, features, values and units.

• Groups. ETIM is a two-level classification model. Every class belongs to one group, and the group level mainly exists to make classes easier to manage.
• Classes. The class is the heart of the model. It says what the product is, and it decides which features apply to it.
• Synonyms. Alternative names for a class (not for a group), so people can find the right class with the words they use.
• Features. The technical characteristics of a class. Each feature is described by its description, its type, and its unit or values.
• Values. Each alphanumeric feature has a fixed list of possible values. The supplier picks one; nobody types free text.
• Units. Numeric and range features always come with a unit of measurement, so a length is never just "25".

Features come in four types, which decide how the data can be checked:

ETIM also lists "predefined features and values" and a "flat structure" among the strengths of the model on its classification page. Both are exactly what an exchange format needs: every partner knows what to send and what to expect.

How do ETIM versions and releases work?

According to the ETIM release policy, official international releases take place about every three years. The current version is ETIM 10.0, released in December 2024. Between official releases, ETIM offers dynamic releases: they contain the full official release plus the classes already published or ready to publish at the time of export. Each local ETIM organization decides whether to use them.

For a PIM team, a class code alone is not enough. Store which ETIM version each supplier file follows, because two suppliers can send the same product under two releases, and your mapping has to know which one it reads.

How is ETIM used in supplier data exchange?

ETIM describes the product; an exchange format carries it from one company to another. On its exchange format page, ETIM International explains that it previously recommended the BMEcat standard, and that it has now released ETIM xChange, a JSON based format that it describes as the first product master data exchange standard fully controlled by ETIM International and its community, with a focus on global use. Version 1.1 of ETIM xChange is the one that applies. National formats also remain in use as sector standards in some markets.

So when a supplier says "we send ETIM data", ask two questions: which ETIM version, and which format. The answers decide your import mapping. Supplier onboarding is where many catalogs start to break, and I explain why in why supplier data is where PIM projects fail.

ETIM vs ECLASS vs GS1 GPC: what is the difference?

These three standards are often mentioned together. They were built by different communities for different needs, and a company can come across all three. A short comparison, based on each organization's own pages:

Sources for this comparison: ETIM International, ECLASS and GS1 Sweden. ETIM covers electrotechnical, HVAC and plumbing, building materials and tools; GS1 GPC spans grocery and retail to construction and healthcare.

The choice is rarely yours alone: it depends on what your suppliers send and what your customers, distributors or marketplaces expect. Many catalogs receive one standard and deliver another, one more reason to keep standards at the edge of your model, not at its center.

Why is a classification standard not a data model?

ETIM answers the question "how do two companies describe this product without ambiguity?". A shopper asks a different one: "which product solves my problem, and how do I compare the options?".

Think of shipping containers. Thanks to one standard, every crane in the world can lift the same box. But nobody shops inside a container. When the goods arrive, someone unpacks them and puts them on shelves organized for the customer, by need, by room, by project. ETIM is the container. Your web families, categories and filters are the shelves.

When the two are confused, the symptoms are usually the same:

• Families mirror technical classes, so a shopper browsing for a bathroom sees a structure designed for wholesale buyers.
• Every ETIM feature becomes a PIM attribute, so each family carries hundreds of fields and completeness scores stop meaning anything.
• Filters show technical features that matter for exchange but not for choosing, while the attributes customers really filter on are missing.

It is not because a standard is well built that it is the right model for your shoppers. Deciding which system owns which structure is also the core of PIM vs MDM.

Field story: when ETIM became the web model

At a European DIY retailer, the whole data model was based on ETIM classification. The catalog was built on 1,324 flat families copied from a supplier classification. Each family carried between 196 and 385 attributes, so completeness meant nothing and teams could not tell what was really missing.

Nobody made a bad decision on purpose. The data arrived in that shape, so it was a fast way to start. But a language made for exchange had quietly become the structure of the website.

The catalog was restructured into a two-level family model, and 5,181 attributes were reduced to 555 kept for the web. ETIM did not disappear: it stayed useful for receiving supplier data. It simply stopped deciding what a shopper sees.

How do you use ETIM inside a PIM without making it your web taxonomy?

ETIM and your own model can live together in the same PIM, as long as each one has its own job.

1. Design your families from the customer side. Start from how people shop your range: what they compare, what they filter on, what decides the purchase. A two-level structure (parent families and sub-families) often gives enough precision without exploding the number of families. The product taxonomy guide shows how.
2. Map ETIM classes to your families, not the other way around. Several ETIM classes can point to one of your families. The mapping table is the bridge, and it belongs to your data team.
3. Keep ETIM features as an exchange layer. Store the ETIM class code, the ETIM version and the supplier values as received. Promote a feature into a web attribute only when customers actually need it on the page or in a filter.
4. Use your own attribute codes. Codes that describe the meaning (for example a readable label based code) survive ETIM releases; codes that copy the ETIM identifier tie your web model to every release.
5. Keep navigation separate. Web categories follow customer journeys and change with campaigns; families describe what a product is. Neither should copy the ETIM tree.
6. Plan for releases. When a new ETIM version arrives, only the mapping layer should move. If your website has to change too, the model is too tightly coupled.

On a new PIM, make this decision first (see the PIM implementation guide).

How can AI enrichment use ETIM features?

ETIM gives AI something it badly needs: limits. An alphanumeric feature comes with a fixed list of values, a logical feature is yes or no, and numeric features carry a unit. These constraints turn an open question into a multiple choice question, and that changes everything for quality.

The same DIY retailer used this approach on its catalog. 200 AI configurations and 950 rules filled 150 previously empty attributes with 80% coverage and an error rate below 5%, because prompts were forced to pick from existing attribute options and never invent values. The pilot started on 260 products before scaling to 2,600+ product texts across 13 categories.

AI amplifies the data quality you already have, good or bad. Clean option lists, clear units and a customer-shaped model are what make enrichment safe. This is the approach behind my AI enrichment services.

A shared language is a starting point

ETIM is a gift for anyone who receives technical product data: one language, fixed values, clear units, and a community that maintains it. Use it fully for that. But the moment you let it design your website, you are asking a dictionary to write your sales pitch.

If you want a second pair of eyes on how ETIM, or any other standard, sits in your own catalog, I work as an independent PIM consultant and can start with a PIM audit of your data model, from what your customers actually look for.