Are you risking your company's reputation?

The risks of using product images and data from retailer websites or that has been crowd sourced.

In today's digital landscape, shopper needs are constantly evolving, and with that comes a greater need to stay on top of the quality and accuracy of your product content. It is vital that companies understand the risks involved with using existing published content, crowd sourcing content, or gathering product data and imagery outside of licensing from authorised sources. intellectual property (IP) rights. ?

With so much content readily available online, it might seem easier and cheaper to use existing product content from across the web. But taking this shortcut?risks infringing copyright law and hurting a company's reputation and bottom line. On the flip side, getting the right licenses for content not only keeps you on the right side of the law but also boosts the value and credibility of your products. ?

In this article, we've turned to one of our experts in the area of licensed content, Debbie Johnson , to explore why it's so important to use licensed content, how proper licensing can benefit your business in multiple ways and where NIQ Brandbank’s range of solutions can empower your company with complete accurate and up-to-date product data and imagery. ?

Read on to see what Debbie had to say. ?

What are the risks of getting product content (images and on pack data) directly from retailer websites to use on my app, platform or within my business:?

1. Inaccuracies: Product details on retailer websites may contain errors or discrepancies affecting the reliability of the information.?

1. Incompleteness: There could be missing information as retailers choose what additional content they wish to display?

1. IP (Intellectual Property) of the product images and data: any unauthorised possession or use is an infringement of the rights of the person who owns the copyright in the image and rights in the data. ?

1. Outdated Information: Retailer websites may not update product information instantly, leading to outdated product content.?

1. Unable to view new or updated products: There is often no way of filtering on websites to view recently added or updated products.?

1. Manual Effort Required:? Product content will need structuring and organising and may need uploading to a website or platform which involves considerable effort.?

1. Limited Scope: Retailer websites may only feature products available in their inventory, limiting the variety and comprehensiveness of the data.?

1. Restricted Accessibility: Some retailers may restrict access to certain products or information based on location or other factors, limiting user access to complete datasets.?

But if images and data are published on Retailers' websites, why do IP rights still apply??? ?

Just because the images and data are published on retailer websites, this does not mean that they are free for businesses to use. ?The creator and/or provider of the content will own the rights in the images and data, and consent?(in the form of a licence) is generally required to reproduce images and data elsewhere. ??

How does a licence benefit my business? ?

By obtaining a proper licence, your company will be abiding by the law and have reassurance that its use of the images and data is authorised and from a reliable source. An infringement claims risk bad publicity and would likely be something you would have to disclose on Know Your Customer questionnaires from clients. By obtaining the right licences you can control your company’s reputation and avoid costly legal claims.?

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What are the risks of crowdsourcing product content (images and on pack data):?

1. Quality Control: Ensuring accuracy and reliability of data is difficult due to varying contributor expertise and diligence.?

1. Incomplete Information: Some products may receive more attention than others, creating gaps in the dataset and then customers using this as a source cannot find products or information they are looking for.?

1. Temporal Validity: Data may quickly become outdated, especially if there's a delay in updates from contributors.?

1. Lack of Standardisation: Different formats and terminology make data comparison and analysis challenging.??

1. Biases: Contributors may be influenced by personal preferences or commercial interests, leading to skewed information.?

1. Spam and Vandalism: Open platforms are susceptible to malicious contributions, compromising data integrity.?

1. Scalability Issues: Managing and validating growing volumes of data requires significant resources.??

1. Privacy Concerns: Handling user-generated content may unwittingly create privacy issues (for example if personal data or images are included)?

What are the benefits of using NIQ Brandbank licensed content??

• 24/7 access: to structured, standardised, high-quality and consistent content to suit all your business uses from product to marketing and sales, and more. ?
• Legally compliant data: data is transcribed from the on-pack information and completes authorised quality assurance. ?
• Regulation-ready: In-house Food Regulation specialists to ensure you are working ahead of regulatory changes.?
• Brand-owner?approved content:? ensuring 100% brand alignment on content and authorised for publication.?
• Real-time content updates: product updates available as they occur ensuring you will receive the most up to date content.?
• Inspire and engage shoppers: expanded content set of data attributes and images to enrich the shopper experience.?
• Optimised labour efforts: enhance content quality while simultaneously reducing your content acquisition costs.?
• Flexible connectivity: Automated system updates via API and multi-user web-based access available to maximise use in your organisation, saving time and resource.?

Relying on sourcing your product content directly from retailer websites for your app, platform, or business can involve risks such as inaccuracies, incomplete information, outdated data,?and manual effort required to organise and upload content. Additionally, the limited scope and restricted accessibility of retailer websites can hinder the comprehensiveness and usefulness of your product database.?

Even if images and data are accessible on retailer websites, unauthorized use can lead to legal consequences.?Most retail websites actively prohibit use of content for commercial purposes. Crowd-sourcing content may seem like easy alternative, but this in itself opens businesses up to the risk of inaccurate, outdated or incorrect information. Licensing content through an official source ensures access to high-quality, legally compliant content, enhancing brand reputation and providing a competitive edge.?

Partnering with services like NIQ Brandbank offers a solution by providing automated content distribution and standardized product information for all your content needs. This not only saves time and effort but also ensures compliance with legal and regulatory standards. ?

Find out more about NIQ Brandbank’s Content Licensing solutions and request a free consultation by clicking below.??