High-quality product data is elementary. They are the central building block for successful sales and satisfied customers and must be carefully accompanied from the beginning to the end of their value chain. But how can this task be mastered in times of ever faster arriving new information and more extensive product data volumes? What challenges and stumbling blocks can you encounter in fast-paced connected commerce and how can you overcome them? These questions were the topic of the second stopover of the hmmh Product Data Pilots in March 2023. After the successful event in Munich in November 2022, we were now guests with our partners in Cologne at the Haus der Kommunikation. In exciting presentations, the latest technologies, exciting trends and innovative solutions were presented by experts.
The second roadshow organized by our implementation partner hmmh was all about navigating through the jungle of product data in Connected Commerce. Directly in the keynote by Marcus Person from hmmh it became clear that depending on the target group, different touchpoints have to be reached and addressed - from websites to stores to social media, catalogs and blog articles. This requires a well thought-out customer experience and correct, complete and high-quality product data at every point, from the onboarding of the data to the sale of the products.
In the presentation by Niklas Jeppe and Robin Wilken from hmmh, it also quickly became clear that interlocking solutions and a view of the big picture are indispensable. Innovative technologies can support you in increasing the value of your product data, but all steps must be cleverly thought out in order to be able to control and steer the complete product data value chain from start to finish.
But how can you specifically onboard this data, enrich it and present it in a way that appeals to your customers? What helps you not to lose your orientation on the way through the data jungle? How do you create good workflows that optimally support you in your daily business?
As Bernhard Bicher, CEO of Onedot, points out, the onboarding of data is already a decisive step in order to be able to manage large quantities of different product data from suppliers and manufacturers quickly and precisely. It presents many companies with major challenges, because partner companies and data suppliers in most cases have a data structure that does not correspond to their own. This leads to a lot of manual effort, loss of time and a high error rate.
The Onedot platform ensures powerful and highly automated onboarding so that the various product data can be transferred to the appropriate product data model (PDM) by the retailer or the sales channel in a time- and resource-saving manner. Data structures, attributes or classifications can be determined here with the support of AI, matched to required content or adapted with a high degree of automation that is not yet available on the market.
The fact that AI and machine learning technologies also have a high potential in enrichment was also demonstrated in the presentation by JohannesSommer, 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- and labor-intensive task. Individual templates can be created for several thousand precise and appealing descriptions, which can be updated and easily adapted at any time - an unbeatable advantage in fast and demanding e-commerce.
But it is also crucial for maintaining the value of product data that it is stored in a central and clear location. A powerful product information management system(PIM system) forms the basis for the extraction and management of all product data - from attributes to texts to assets. Michael Henrichs, site manager of 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 stores or marketing media be reliably served.
And even though many companies and customers are increasingly thinking digitally, print as a marketing medium 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. The fact that print no longer has to be slow and characterized by countless correction loops quickly became clear in the presentation by Sebastian Hardung, Chief Marketing Officer at priint. With the potential of database publishing, your maintained and enriched product data can be automatically turned into vivid and appealing print products, tailored to your customers.
But you can only increase and leverage the value of your data if you keep the four steps of onboarding, enrichment, management, and distribution permanently in mind and if you use the right technologies for your data.
We and our partners are happy to be your pilots along this Product DataValue Chain. With our experience, the exchange among each other and our innovative technologies, we help you not to lose sight of the big picture, to master the challenges of Connected Commerce and to find your optimal path.
Would you like to learn more, talk to our experts about your requirements or get to know our solutions better? Then come and visit us at our third stop of the roadshow on June 7 in Hamburg!
