Manufacturer
A manufacturer is the company that makes a product and sets its identity: its part number, usually its barcode, and the specifications it publishes.
- Maker
What it means
The manufacturer makes the product, and most of what identifies it starts there. It gives each product a manufacturer part number (MPN), and Google says unique product identifiers such as the GTIN “are assigned to each product by the manufacturer”.1 So the same product carries the same codes whoever sells it.
The manufacturer is also the best source for facts a supplier file leaves out. Its product page, datasheet and manual hold the specifications, and when two files disagree about a value, the manufacturer’s page settles it.
You may buy from a manufacturer directly or through a distributor that stocks many manufacturers’ goods. Either way, match on the manufacturer’s codes.
Think of it like this
If the manufacturer is the baker, the supplier is the shop that sold you the loaf. The shop knows the price, but only the baker knows exactly what went into it.
For example
A distributor lists a basin mixer tap as TAP-ARC-CH, 155 mm high, with no MPN. The manufacturer’s trade file has the same barcode, 5060123456783, with MPN ARC-BM-01 and a height of 165 mm. The merged row keeps the MPN and 165 mm, the height that matches the manufacturer’s page.
Why it matters
Not to be confused with
Your supplier is whoever sells you the product, and that is often a distributor rather than the company that made it, so the manufacturer and the supplier can differ.
Sources
- Google Merchant Center Help. About unique product identifiers.
- Google Merchant Center Help. GTIN [gtin].
- eBay Developers Program. AddItem (Trading API reference).