With no common standard in the industry, currently retailers use a variety of identifying codes for gifts, from ISBNs and UPCs to supplier-generated reference numbers and store-generated numbers retailers create in an attempt to keep on top of their stock.

The lack of standardization can make it hard to manage a store's gift department well, attendees heard yesterday at a retail training session called Impulse or Destination: Managing Your Gift Inventory.

Because some start-up gift companies do not need the 100 minimum UPC numbers they can apply for-at a cost of several hundred dollars-CBA is investigating whether it can be issued a block of UPC numbers to in turn provide as needed to smaller vendors, said the trade association's Training and Consulting Manager Mike Hockett. “We don't know the answer yet,” he said.

Five retailers shared their experiences of dealing with gift-related data in the Retail Application Class. Margie Woehrmann, from Grapevine Books in Houston, said that her store developed a system of assigning its own codes when needed because it dealt with a lot of small companies that did not have proper codes, but were chosen for the uniqueness of their products.

Vickie Geist, gift buyer for Cedar Springs Christian Stores in Knoxville, Tenn., said her store had “drawn a line in the sand” regarding gift tracking and only dealt with companies that were UPC-compliant.

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