How do I pick the best Product and Service Categories for my company?

Picking the best Product and Service Categories helps customers find you by commodity. Consider the following when picking the best fit for your company:

• Be general. Search as non-specifically as possible. For example, search "stands" instead of "Wrought iron plant stands with dolphin designs" to help you efficiently pick a commodity.

• Use layman's terms. Your industry-specific knowledge and vocabulary helps you describe an individual product or service but can hinder how searchable you are by potential buyers or suppliers. Use terms that someone without specialized knowledge will be able to identify.

• If none of the search results match the category you are looking for we suggest you use the Browse all categories option to search the full structure of available categories to find one that best matches your requirements.

• Utilize other spaces. Product and Service Categories aren't the end-all be-all of describing your needs or abilities. If you are creating a posting, use the posting body to outline the details of the products or services you are requesting.

Ariba uses United Nations Standard Products and Services Codes (UNSPSC) to standardize category classification. The Product and Service Categories classification system includes four levels:

• Segment
• Family
• Class
• Commodity

Segments are the highest level, so if you supply all the products or services in a segment, select only the segment. Your customer will still be able to find you if they search for any of the sub-categories under that segment. If you cannot find the exact code, select the code one level higher. For example, if a product is not in the list, select the class to which the product most likely belongs.

You can look up codes for specific items on the UNSPSC website. If there is no UNSPSC code for one of your products or services, you can contact the UNSPSC organization to request one. The managing organization either creates a new code or recommends an existing code.

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