A trade item hierarchy shows which consumer units a case contains, or which cases a pallet contains. The buyer needs information about the trade items at each level of the trade item hierarchy, so Trade Item Information must specify this information at each level.
There are three possible levels in a trade item hierarchy:
- Base level: The lowest level of a trade item hierarchy. A trade item at base level does not contain any items identified with a GTIN.
Examples: A bottle of mineral water, or a bucket for the foodservice industry. - Case level: The middle level of a trade item hierarchy. A trade item at case level contains other trade items and is also contained in a trade item.
Example: A box with six bottles of shampoo. - Pallet level: The highest level of a trade item hierarchy. A trade item at pallet level contains other items but is not itself contained in another trade item.
Example: A pallet of boxes containing bottles of shampoo.
Each item at the different levels is given a GTIN. Trade Item Information is sent for every GTIN, since they have different attributes, such as different dimensions. Using the item levels, it is easy to describe an item
hierarchy.