Sally Herbert, president of the Global Data Synchronization Network, said a key part to the data interchange is both retailers and manufacturers keeping quality data sets. Herbert said data quality is the foundation to data synchronization with trading partners and cited a recent Global Commerce Initiative study of implementations worldwide.

The Global Data Synchronization Network connects the data pools of retailers and suppliers to the GS1 Global Registry.

"The study found 30 percent of current item data is incorrect, which costs between US$60 and US$80 per error to fix, and to cleanse takes about 25 minutes per stock keeping unit per year," Herbert said.

"Some 60 percent of invoices were found to have errors with 40 to 45 percent of these involving deductions."