Blog
June 22, 2020
Premiere for Contentserv: 3 days, 4 languages, and over 700 participants at the first online event. The theme of the event was digital readiness, and in over 20 sessions, presentations, and demos each day, strategies were presented on how to accelerate digital transformation in companies.
Manufacturers, brands, retailers, and employees from communications, marketing, and product teams were invited to participate as exhibitors and speakers. Managing directors and employees at the decision-making level took part in order to benefit from the concrete exchange of experiences. The virtual event consisted of lectures and presentations on the one hand, and on the other hand offered companies the opportunity to present themselves in a virtual exhibition. This virtual exhibition acts as a digital replacement for traditional trade fair stands: a chat function is available for direct exchange, and information is presented via videos or documents available for download.
After the summit, all registered participants will receive on-demand access to the lectures and presentations for one year. This allows participants to catch up on any sessions they missed or revisit content at a later date. We have also summarized what we consider to be the most exciting lectures and would like to share them with you.
Presentation: “Dorel Juvenile: Creating outstanding brand experiences through centralized product data”
Speakers: Michael Matheij, Dorel Juvenile Europe, and Koen Van den Bossche, GM Contentserv Western Europe
Dorel Juvenile combines 11 brands in three segments and is active in over 100 countries. Its product range includes sporting goods, furniture and furnishings, as well as baby and children’s equipment.
The presentation provides insight into the internal restructuring through the introduction of a new PIM/MAM and how this enables a better and faster response to dealer requirements. Changes had become necessary because the company’s data management involved a high level of manual effort and information was isolated in different areas of the company. This resulted in a significant amount of time being lost searching for or preparing, standardizing, and updating relevant product data in order to obtain valid information for internal and external use. Lost time equates to lost money: the time-consuming process of searching, checking, updating, and passing on product data slows down time-to-market and thus delays the point at which the product is sold. Contentserv PIM was introduced to optimize internal processes and successfully launch e-commerce. This step creates a central database in which product data is maintained and made available. Above all, updating items with long product life cycles and managing the associated spare part generations can be simplified and multiple versions prevented. This also enables Dorel Juvenile to prepare its own product range centrally in several languages and make it available for the respective markets.The PIM integrates seamlessly into the existing system architecture and offers simplified workflows, such as structured approval processes or semi-automated catalog creation. Internal coordination is improved by giving different departments access to the software. The PIM thus acts as a central source through which consistent data is made available within the company and used for external purposes, for example, for retailers.
Dorel Juvenile replaced its previously decentralized organization with a centralized corporate structure, optimized internal processes, and, above all, saved time. The central source of high-quality product information also creates the conditions for implementing future innovations (e.g., mobile first, e-commerce) and thus driving innovation forward. Due to the possible extensions of the Contentserv PIM, the project is not yet complete: The next goals include automated translations, for example, in order to make product data available to retailers even faster.
Lecture: “PIM Time-to-Value: Why the time factor is more important than ever before!”
Speaker: Manuel Dirnhofer, General Manager Sales DACH at Contentserv
E-commerce is an important driver of digital transformation: in the DACH region alone, B2C e-commerce sales amounted to around €86 billion in 2020. For the German B2B sector, the figure is around €53 billion. The coronavirus crisis has given e-commerce another significant boost—albeit not equally for all brands. This has also highlighted areas where digital readiness is still lacking: online shops that are unable to deliver and the lack of digital offerings from local providers have stood out negatively.
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales offer manufacturers and retailers an alternative way to reach customers directly. According to a study by Walker, the customer experience is becoming an increasingly relevant factor and will develop into the most important differentiating feature for brands in the long term. As a result, brands must take action and place customers at the center of their activities. Through this realignment and based on the data gained from D2C activities, customer-specific problems can be solved with targeted offers.
In this context, the (re)use of websites as scalable sales channels is also recommended. This goes hand in hand with changes and increased requirements—the most important prerequisite being high-quality product data. However, the changeover opens up an independent and direct sales channel to customers for the provider.
Another important point is the targeted design of the customer journey. Here, the relevant information must be offered via the right channel and at the right time from the outset. It is therefore a matter of staying in contact with customers in the long term and nurturing the relationship accordingly. It should be noted here that the demands of digital consumers are constantly changing. Brands must increasingly position themselves as problem solvers rather than just offering products for sale—for example, by offering digital services such as tutorial videos. By focusing comprehensively on the customer and complementary digital services, time-to-value is positively influenced and companies benefit from long-term successful customer relationships.
These inputs can help in developing a company-specific strategy for digital transformation. At the same time, it is important to critically examine the status of areas such as technical infrastructure or new work within the company. Based on this snapshot, the company’s own digital readiness can be advanced in the future. The general rule here is that internal processes must be digitized and, where possible, automated in order to enable agile working, shorten time-to-market, and be prepared for constantly changing market requirements. Particular attention should be paid to high-quality, digitized product data. The overarching goal is to interact with customers promptly and directly and to respond as quickly as possible to their individual needs.
Best Practice „Betty Barclay: Digitale Markenerfahrung in der Modebranche“
Speakers: Jens Wittemaier, IT Project Manager, Betty Barclay Group, and Thorge Oehmsen, PIM Consultant, hmmh Multimediahaus AG
Betty Barclay brings together various brands and has set itself the goal of better reaching its customers. In this context, the aim is to establish automated, scalable, and flexible systems and processes within the company—while also relaunching the online shop.
During the concept phase, a PIM/MAM and an ERP with shop backend were compared. Betty Barclay decided to implement the PIM/MAM in order to meet the requirements in terms of usability, data model, workflow, and duration: Centralized management and maintenance of product data is a prerequisite for further optimization and goal achievement. An important first step was the introduction of a flexible, expandable, three-level data model: Currently, the general description is recorded at the product level, the variants are recorded at the color level, and the articles or SKUs are managed at the size level. Another requirement was to improve the quality of product data, also as a basis for marketing texts or SEO for the various brands and different markets. The new quality assurance processes are highly automated and save time and money by shortening the time to market. Flexibility was a decisive factor in the overall project design: the project is divided into workshops and uses the so-called water-scrum-fall model, a combination of the waterfall method and agile project management. Likewise, the use of configurable connectors enables needs-oriented expansion, for example, using an export interface from PIM to Shopware and Tradebyte.
The introduction of PIM/MAM and the associated professionalization of structures and high level of process automation will enable the company to achieve its goal: a consistent database forms the basis for an improved customer journey. At the same time, the system offers the necessary flexibility, speed, and scalability to enable Betty Barclay to adapt to market requirements, implement its own requirements, and further increase sales.
Summary
We congratulate Contentserv on its first online event and are proud to support the Virtual Summit as a Gold Sponsor. The Virtual Summit is a successful way of dealing with the “new normal” and responding to the fact that knowledge exchange and networking are increasingly taking place in a digital context. The premiere had a few teething problems, but overall it was a successful event. Breaking new ground with innovative partners is particularly important to us at Onedot—we are already looking forward to the next online event.
The various presentations and best practice examples make it clear that digital transformation is necessary for the long-term success of companies: only through digital readiness can companies respond to constantly changing market conditions and needs on the part of retailers or customers. Digital product information plays a key role in the context of the digital transformation of companies: Whether it’s successful e-commerce, optimized and automated processes, or future innovations, the quality and availability of digital product data is the first step.
If you missed the Onedot presentation and would like to learn more about how to take your product data to the next level, we invite you to watch the video.