Why it compounds
The same record does more work every quarter.
A catalogue is worth what it cost to build. A network is worth what it reaches.
Down, up, and across
Down
A brand or distributor publishes once, and the record reaches every dealer they've authorised — in the shape each dealer's storefront can consume, and current, because it changes when they change it.
Up
A dealer who spots a wrong dimension — or has a better photo, the product in a real room or a customer's hands, or a review from a real buyer — proposes it up. It goes to whoever owns that field, who accepts or rejects it. Nothing changes behind anyone's back.
Across
An organisation can hold its own locale-scoped version of a record — a translated description, a regional identifier — without overwriting what the contributor published.
What a contributor is actually buying
Not storage, and not a feed. Reach, and reach that grows without them doing anything: every dealer who joins the network is another shelf the same record can reach, and every authorisation granted is one more that doesn't have to be renegotiated.
That's the part a competitor can't buy. Software can be acquired in an afternoon. A thousand authorisations between businesses that have to trust each other cannot.
And what it isn't
It isn't a pool. Your data doesn't get mixed into a market report, sold on, or shown to anyone you haven't named. Raw catalogues are never resold. Access is enforced per recipient, per line and per field — and revoking is one action, not a renegotiation.