Overview
The PRICAT (Price Catalogue) message serves as the electronic equivalent of a product catalogue or price list. It is sent from a supplier to a buyer to communicate product availability, pricing, item descriptions, and related master data. The PRICAT is typically exchanged before the ordering process begins, ensuring that both parties have aligned product and pricing information in their systems.
Beyond simple price lists, the PRICAT message supports rich product data including hierarchical product relationships (base items, variants, pack sizes), multiple price types (recommended retail price, net purchase price, promotional price), effective date ranges for pricing, and detailed item attributes such as dimensions, weight, and product classification codes.
In the retail sector, PRICAT is a cornerstone of item setup processes. When a supplier introduces new products or updates pricing, the PRICAT message automatically updates the buyer's item master database, ensuring that purchase orders, receiving processes, and shelf labels reflect the correct information. Without PRICAT, these updates require manual data entry — a slow, error-prone process that becomes unmanageable at scale.
Message Structure
The PRICAT message has a header section with supplier information, validity dates, and currency, followed by a detail section where each line item represents a product with its pricing and attributes. Line items can include multiple price qualifiers, date ranges, and product characteristics.
Key Segments
| Segment | Name | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
BGM | Beginning of Message | Catalogue number, function (new catalogue, update, replacement) |
DTM | Date/Time/Period | Catalogue validity start/end dates, price effective dates |
NAD | Name and Address | Supplier, buyer, manufacturer, brand owner |
CUX | Currencies | Catalogue currency |
LIN | Line Item | Product identification by GTIN with action code (add, change, delete) |
PIA | Additional Product ID | Supplier article number, buyer article number, manufacturer part number |
IMD | Item Description | Product name, brand, variant description, flavour, colour |
MEA | Measurements | Product dimensions, weight (net/gross), volume |
PRI | Price Details | Net price, gross price, recommended retail price, promotional price |
ALC | Allowance or Charge | Volume discounts, promotional allowances, logistics charges |
TAX | Duty/Tax/Fee | VAT rate applicable to the product |
PAC | Package | Packaging type and hierarchy (consumer unit, trade unit, pallet) |
Price Types and Qualifiers
A single product in PRICAT can carry multiple prices distinguished by qualifier codes. The most common are:
- AAA — Net calculation price: The actual purchase price after all discounts, used for order value calculations.
- AAB — Gross calculation price: The list price before discounts.
- AAE — Information price (recommended retail): The suggested selling price for end consumers, used for shelf labels and POS systems.
- AAF — Information price (reference): A reference price for comparison or promotional display.
Each price can have an associated validity period specified in DTM segments, allowing suppliers to communicate future price changes in advance. This is particularly useful for annual price revisions where the new prices need to be loaded into systems before the effective date.
Common Use Cases
- New product introduction: Suppliers send PRICAT with new line items (action code "add") including full product data, pricing, and packaging information to onboard products in the buyer's system.
- Annual price updates: At the start of a pricing period, suppliers issue an updated PRICAT with revised net prices, effective from a specified date.
- Product delisting: Products being withdrawn are communicated with a "delete" action code, allowing the buyer to mark items as discontinued.
- Promotional pricing: Temporary price reductions are communicated with date-bounded prices, enabling automated promotional pricing in the buyer's system.
- Product data synchronisation: Ongoing PRICAT exchanges keep product master data (descriptions, dimensions, barcodes) aligned between trading partners.
Example Snippet
UNH+1+PRICAT:D:96A:UN:EAN008'
BGM+9+CAT-2024-001+9'
DTM+137:20240301:102'
DTM+194:20240401:102'
DTM+206:20241231:102'
NAD+SU+4012345000010::9'
NAD+BY+5412345000013::9'
CUX+2:EUR:4'
LIN+1++4012345000027:SRV'
PIA+1+ABC-001:SA'
IMD+F+ANM+:::Premium Widget Blue 500ml'
MEA+PD+HT+CMT:25'
MEA+PD+WT+GRM:450'
PRI+AAA:25.50::NTP'
PRI+AAE:39.99::SRP'
TAX+7+VAT+++:::19'
UNT+15+1'Implementation Considerations
PRICAT messages can be very large — a full catalogue from a major supplier may contain thousands of line items. Ensure your EDI translator and mapping engine can handle large message volumes efficiently. Consider implementing incremental updates (sending only changed items) rather than full catalogue replacements to reduce processing time.
Product data quality is paramount. The GTIN in LIN must be accurate and match the physical barcode on the product. Mismatches cause receiving errors, checkout failures, and supply chain disruptions. Implement validation rules to verify GTIN check digits and flag duplicate or conflicting product data.
When receiving PRICAT, your system needs clear business rules for handling the action codes on each line item. New items should trigger a product setup workflow, changes should update existing master data (with appropriate approval if prices are affected), and deletions should deactivate rather than hard-delete items to preserve historical transaction data.