What are BIC Discount Codes
Monday, December 7th, 2009The discount group codes are used by wholesalers and retailers for the exchange of information with publishers and distributors about discounts given. At their request BIC has defined and administers a standard method of communicating publishers’ discount group codes as part of an EDI or ONIX message. A discount group code, which is an attribute of a product, is converted to an actual discount rate by means of a look-up table which is specific to an individual trading agreement and which is communicated directly between the trading partners by non-EDI/ONIX means.
All BIC-assigned discount group codes begin with the letter A, followed by a four-letter alphabetic code which identifies the publisher or issuer of the code, and are listed on the BIC web site. To ensure uniqueness, it is essential that codes assigned are notified to BIC immediately and updated on a regular basis. If new codes are not being notified, there is no guarantee that the codes in the published list are in fact unique. Codes are not deleted when they cease to be used (e.g. when a publisher moves distribution from one company to another) and should not be reused or reassigned, as this may cause problems elsewhere in the supply chain.
It is clear that not all distributors and publishers are following this guidance at present; and they are encouraged to inform BIC of all codes currently in use as a matter of urgency.
Full details of the scheme and the current list of codes can be found at http://www.bic.org.uk/13/Discount-Group-Codes/.