ETIM and PIM: what the standard fixes in your data model

What is ETIM and who governs it?

ETIM is an open classification model for technical products, governed by ETIM International, an association with its seat in Margraten, the Netherlands. ETIM International lists 16 local ETIM organisations, from Austria and the Nordic countries to North America and the UK and Ireland. The local organisations run translations, member support and national exchange agreements. The international body owns the model and the release process.

The current official release is ETIM 10.0, published in December 2024. ETIM 10.0 processed 5,264 requests for change and added 119 classes. It introduced feature groups, which sort features into sections such as material, electrical and dimensions. ETIM 11.0 is planned for 1 December 2026, after a change-request deadline of 30 June 2026.

ETIM is one of seven standards in the product data standards overview, and it shapes several shortlists in PIM by industry. For a buyer, the release process matters as much as the content. Every release brings class changes that the PIM must absorb without weeks of manual rework.

Which industries use ETIM?

ETIM started in electrotechnical wholesale and now spans several technical sectors. ETIM International's own sector filters include electrotechnical, HVAC and plumbing, building materials, shipbuilding, and tools, hardware and site supplies. Many general product classes belong to more than one sector.

In PIMvendors selections, ETIM is decisive for four buyer types:

• Manufacturers of electrical, lighting, HVAC and sanitary products that deliver ETIM data to wholesalers.
• Technical wholesalers that receive supplier data in ETIM and publish it to webshops and procurement catalogues.
• Building materials suppliers that feed national data pools.
• DIY and tools suppliers that sell the same technical item through trade and retail channels.

In the Netherlands, 2BA runs the data pool for the building and installation chain. 2BA aligns its data pool with the Ketenstandaard Bouw en Techniek and supports ETIM xChange 2.0 for import and export. For Dutch and Belgian buyers in these sectors, the data pool is often the first syndication target, ahead of any marketplace. A PIM that cannot produce a valid data pool file fails the most important channel on day one.

What does ETIM mean for the PIM data model?

ETIM fixes the attribute model for every classified product. The ETIM model has six entity types: product groups, product classes, synonyms, features, values and units. Each class belongs to exactly one group and carries its own feature list. Classes, features, values and units have language-independent IDs, so the model works the same in every language.

ETIM defines four feature types, and a PIM must store each one natively:

The consequence is direct. The PIM must hold the ETIM class as a classification on the product, inherit the feature set from that class, and keep ETIM IDs next to display labels. A PIM that stores only translated labels breaks when ETIM renames a value or adds a language. ETIM MC, the modelling extension, adds geometric data for 3D exchange with CAD software, and ETIM International's model page lists 360 modelled classes.

What should you test in a PIM demo for ETIM?

Test ETIM with your own products, your own ETIM release and a release migration. PIMvendors' scenario method asks vendors to run each scenario live on buyer sample data. For ETIM, five scenarios separate native support from a mapping spreadsheet:

1. Import the ETIM 10.0 classification in IXF or CSV and show class, feature and value IDs inside the PIM.
2. Classify 20 sample products into ETIM classes and show the inherited features, units and value lists.
3. Export one product as ETIM xChange 2.0 JSON and validate the file against the xChange schema in front of the evaluation team.
4. Simulate the move from ETIM 10.0 to ETIM 11.0: a renamed value, a deprecated feature and a class split. Show what the PIM flags, what it migrates and what remains manual.
5. Show one product carrying ETIM and a second classification, such as ECLASS or the web navigation tree, on one set of attribute values.

Score each scenario on completeness, the number of manual steps and who performs them: a business user or a consultant. The full script format sits in the Demo Theatre scenario library, and the method behind it is described in scenario-based vendor demos.

Common ETIM pitfalls in PIM selections

Most ETIM failures start with treating ETIM as an export mapping. In PIMvendors selections, the same five pitfalls recur:

• Mapping at the edge: the team keeps an internal attribute model and maps it to ETIM at export. Every ETIM release then breaks the mapping, and quality rules check the wrong model.
• Free text in alphanumeric features: users type values instead of selecting ETIM values, and wholesalers reject or overwrite the data.
• Missing units on numeric and range features, which fail validation at the data pool.
• Version drift: suppliers deliver older ETIM data, the PIM holds ETIM 10.0, and customers expect ETIM 11.0 after December 2026. Without release-aware import, the PIM mixes releases silently.
• Old exchange guidelines: 2BA states that previous BMEcat ETIM guideline versions do not match current industry data needs and prefers the BMEcat 2005 ETIM 5.0 guidelines.

ETIM International's releases page also describes dynamic releases between official versions. Ask each vendor in writing whether the PIM imports dynamic releases or only official ones, and how long a release import takes.

Where ETIM shows up across industries

ETIM requirements appear on four industry pages in this hub, each with its own demo scenarios:

• PIM for wholesale distribution: onboarding ETIM data from hundreds of suppliers and normalising it.
• PIM for building materials: ETIM, ETIM MC and national data pools.
• PIM for industrial manufacturing: ETIM next to ECLASS for component makers.
• PIM for DIY and garden: ETIM for trade channels and GS1 data for retail.

On each of these pages, ETIM support is a knock-out criterion in the longlist phase. PIMvendors places it in the data model domain of the requirements checklist, because the classification decides the attribute model before any workflow or integration question.

Two related standards complete the picture. ECLASS covers a broader industrial scope with a deeper property model. BMEcat is the catalogue format that carried most ETIM data before ETIM xChange.

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