Blog
April 16, 2023
High-quality product data is essential. It is the cornerstone of successful sales and customer satisfaction and must be carefully managed from start to finish throughout the value chain. But how can this task be accomplished in an age of ever-faster information flow and ever-increasing volumes of product data? What challenges and obstacles might you encounter in the fast-paced world of connected commerce, and how can you overcome them? These questions were the topic of the second stop of the hmmh Product Data Pilots in March 2023. Following the successful event in Munich in November 2022, we and our partners were guests at the Haus der Kommunikation in Cologne. Experts presented the latest technologies, exciting trends, and innovative solutions in a series of fascinating presentations.
The Product Data Value Chain – or: the value of the value chain
The second roadshow, organized by our implementation partner hmmh, focused on navigating the jungle of product data in connected commerce. Right from the start, Marcus Person from hmmh made it clear in his keynote speech that different touchpoints need to be reached and addressed depending on the target group – from websites and shops to social media, catalogs, and blog articles. This requires a well-thought-out customer experience and accurate, complete, and high-quality product data at every stage, from data onboarding to product sales.
In the presentation by Niklas Jeppe and Robin Wilken from hmmh, it quickly became clear that interlinked solutions and a view of the big picture are indispensable. Innovative technologies can help you increase the value of your product data, but all steps must be carefully thought out in order to control and manage the entire product data value chain from start to finish.
But how can you actually onboard and enrich this data and present it in an appealing way to your customers? What can help you find your way through the data jungle without losing your bearings? How can you create effective processes that provide you with optimal support in your day-to-day business?
The four steps to product data success
This is because the onboarding of data is a crucial step in enabling the rapid and accurate management of large volumes of different product data from suppliers and manufacturers, as Bernhard Bicher, CEO of Onedot, points out. This poses major challenges for many companies, as partner companies and data suppliers usually have a data structure that does not correspond to their own. This leads to a lot of manual effort, wasted time, and a high error rate.
The Onedot platform provides powerful and highly automated onboarding, ensuring that diverse product data can be transferred to the appropriate product data model (PDM) of the retailer or sales channel in a time- and resource-saving manner. Data structures, attributes, or classifications can be determined with the support of AI, matched to the required content, or adapted with a high degree of automation that is currently unmatched on the market.
The fact that AI and machine learning technologies also have great potential in enrichment was also highlighted in the presentation by Johannes Sommer, CEO of Retresco. Based on the high-quality product data available after onboarding, the fully automated creation of product data is no longer a time-consuming and labor-intensive task. This allows individual templates to be created for several thousand precise and appealing descriptions, which can be updated and easily adapted at any time – an unbeatable advantage in the fast-paced and demanding world of e-commerce.
However, it is also crucial for maintaining the value of product data that it is stored in a central and clearly organized location. A powerful product information management system (PIM system) forms the basis for the extraction and management of all product data—from attributes and texts to assets. Michael Henrichs, site manager at contentserv, impressively demonstrated the function of a PIM as a central data hub in the product data value chain, because only with it can the various customer touchpoints such as marketplaces, trading platforms, online shops, or marketing media be reliably served.
And even though many companies and customers are increasingly thinking digitally, print marketing media has not lost its importance in distribution. Whether catalogs, brochures, or target group- or even customer-specific flyers—printed materials are still in demand and accompany the shopping experience. Sebastian Hardung, Chief Marketing Officer at priint, made it clear in his presentation that print no longer has to be slow and characterized by countless correction loops. With the potential of database publishing, your maintained and enriched product data can be automatically turned into clear and appealing print products that are tailored to your customers.
On the way to achieving our goal with Product Data Pilots
However, only if you keep a constant eye on the four steps of onboarding, enrichment, management, and distribution, and use the right technologies for your data, can you increase and leverage the value of your data.
We and our partners are happy to guide you along this product data value chain. With our experience, mutual exchange, and innovative technologies, we help you keep sight of the big picture, overcome the challenges of connected commerce, and find your optimal path.
Would you like to learn more, talk to our experts about your requirements, or find out more about our solutions? Then visit us at our third roadshow stop on June 7 in Hamburg!