The United Nations Standard Products and Services Code (UNSPSC) is a globally recognized classification system for products and services. It provides a standardized way of categorizing various goods and services across different industries.
While UNSPSC classification is not mandatory for all, it is commonly used by companies and organizations in the following industries and functions:
E-commerce platforms
Online retailers and e-commerce platforms often use UNSPSC to classify product catalogs. It helps organize products into categories and subcategories, facilitating product search and comparison for customers, and complying with customer demands, e.g. automated accounting, reporting, etc.
Procurement and supply chain management
Many companies use UNSPSC for procurement purposes. Organizations can streamline their procurement processes by classifying products based on UNSPSC codes, enhancing supplier management, and greatly improving precision within spend analysis.
Government procurement
Government agencies at national and international levels can require suppliers to classify their products using UNSPSC codes during the procurement process. It ensures transparency, standardization, and efficient evaluation of bids.
Spend analysis
UNSPSC classification is valuable for companies looking to perform data analysis, spend analysis, and market research. Organizing products and services into standardized categories makes it easier to track expenditures, identify spending patterns, and compare market trends.
Catalog management
Large companies that manage extensive product catalogs, such as manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers, may adopt UNSPSC to organize their product data and ensure consistency across different systems and platforms.
Product data exchange
When exchanging product information with trading partners or using electronic business documents, UNSPSC codes provide a common language for product classification, facilitating accurate and efficient data exchange.
While UNSPSC provides a widely accepted classification framework, its adoption may vary across industries and regions. Companies operating in specific sectors like healthcare, construction, or IT may have additional classification standards specific to their respective industries.
Read more about different use cases of UNSPSC classification.
How to automate UNSPSC classification for your organization
Get your invoice lines classified and codified to UNSPSC automatically. All transactions are structured in detail for your accounting, controlling, and analytics needs — batch upload historical data or process automatically in real-time.
Learn more about automated UNSPSC classification.
