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1 | Building a data structure with a PIM solution
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M U L T I C H A N N E L
M A R K E T I N G
T H R O U G H
D A T A
M A N A G E M E N T
EBOOK
BUILDING
A DATA STRUCTURE
WITH A PIM SOLUTION
On the example of one of MaPS System’s
customers from the retail industry
2 | Building a data structure with a PIM solution
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INTRODUCTION
SEVERE MARKETING
STRUGGLES…
Consumers constantly thrive for more. They more & more seek high quality, as
well as consistent product information across all touch points of the company
brand.
• Businesses need to sell & communicate through an increasing number
of channels (web, mobile, print, PoS, marketplaces, etc.) while offering a
seamless brand experience everywhere (Multichannel Marketing).
• Companies need to adapt to each channel, country & language, the information they distribute about their products, as well as their general brand
appearance (Multichannel Marketing).
• Marketers have to manage several campaigns with varying contexts or messages targeting different consumer groups (Inbound Marketing).
Product information nowadays explodes of complexity
Additionally, businesses obviously need to differentiate themselves & their
product offers to remain competitive and meet consumer needs in this datadriven world*.
Document challenges cost organizations
21.3%
of their overall staff productivity¹
* Read Blog article on “Why you need a PIM” here http://bit.ly/1N8YljX
3 | Building a data structure with a PIM solution
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Ravaging Consequences
• Complexity to manage these massive amounts of highly detailed product
information which are usually gathered in extra-long spreadsheets and processed through tedious, manual work. Multiple data errors occur regularly.
• Employees & partners experience loss of control & confusion: they regularly
share wrong versions, work on outdated drafts and sometimes get lost in the
shuffle. They have difficulties to identify & access reliable data.
• The data quality suffers from a lack of structure, inconsistency & accuracy.
The vision of a PIM solution
A Product Information Management (PIM) solution* centralizes information related to products from multiple systems (ERP, PLM, CRM) and existing sources
(i.e. spreadsheets, CSV files) so that there is only one stored version of all product information available internally (staff & employees) and externally (e.g. web
or graphic designers, photographers, etc).
This synchronization of product information creates clean, standardized &
consistent product information.
The platform is used as one trusted & secure source of product information for
the entire company.
Through rights management, authorized users can easily define which information is accessible and modifiable by whom.
The PIM solution creates a closely tailored data structure which incorporates
the business’ objectives.
Since it also follows a semantic-based approach, the system understands product correlations and automatically matches product attributes - facilitating the
search through the complex range of products.
33%
of e-business and channel strategy professionals cited
that investment in PIM technology was a top priority²
*Read Blog article on “6 tips for a successful PIM implementation” here http://bit.ly/1lLwjS9
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WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF
THIS EBOOK?
This Ebook explains the importance of an organized
data structure as a leverage for business success.
The role of a Product Information Management solution in establishing a data structure is explained closely with the help of a customer example.
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EXAMPLE OF A MAPS SYSTEM CLIENT*
CREATION OF THE CLIENT’S
DATA STRUCTURE WITH A
PIM SOLUTION
The featured company is a European mail and online vendor selling vegetable
and flower seeds, plants and gardening utensils. Its offer ranges around 10 000
references. It is a client of MaPS System since 2010.
Challenges
Changing consumer demands forced a transformation of the business to convert
its offline activities (print catalogues, mail & telephone orders) into online activities (webpage, online catalogue).
The client needed to gather all of his product information - located in multiple
spreadsheets, Word documents and the existing print catalogues - in order to
feature it on his future e-shop.
10.000 articles had to be taken into account, representing vegetable & flower
seeds, as well as plants & gardening utensils. Every single article has multiple,
and product-specific attributes.
Once the massive information had been gathered, a suitable data structure had to be
defined to adhere to the product complexity
& variability, and to correspond to the client’s
new multichannel business objectives.
*The name of the company is confidential and cannot be communicated publicly.
Please get in touch with MaPS System if you desire more information.
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An object-oriented PIM solution
An object-oriented PIM solution turned out to be the most flexible & suitable
solution for the client since he could build the data structure & design the product data exactly as needed.
His catalogue complexity is also managed by the incorporation of strengths and
the inheritance of product attributes featured in the PIM solution.
The object-oriented solution’s high flexibility also enables the client to adapt the
data structure to product information evolutions & product range expansions.
Data hierarchy
The first step towards standardizing the client’s data was to define the differences in product hierarchy (see next page’s Diagram 1.1) based on the high
variabilities of the grains & gardening utensils he sold.
He chose a generic classification by grouping all products into a first level of
families (e.g. roses, plants, flower bulbs, hydro-cultivated plants, etc.), then into
a second level of categories (e.g. within the roses family: miniatures, polyanthas,
large remontant bushes with flowers), and finally into a third level of grain species.
The client approximately assigned 51 species (out of a world total amount of
400,000³ listed species!) constituting of special features or attributes that correspond to the 4th and final level of classification. Each species would be appointed up to 20 attributes out of a total of 168 attributes.
Extremely precise and distinctive attributes for product
differentiation
Examining the detailed level of the species “Dioressence” from the family “roses”,
category “large remontant bushes with flowers”, its distinctive specifications including its history demonstrate the complexity of the client’s product variety.
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This specific rose is named after the perfume “Dioressence”, created by the designer Christian Dior, due to its fragrance similarity. It has lilac petals (attribute:
color) which are shaped like wide champagne glasses (attribute: petal form)
that have red and dark purple edges (attribute: petal color). Its fragrance
resembles that of a mandarin, geranium, forests and moss (attribute:
odor)⁴.
Further attributes include: price per quantity, dimensions, height,
cut, caliber, cold frame, flowering period, blooming period, country
of origin, cultivation method, organic agriculture, rambler rose.
Within the interface, the client defined a data tree view displaying the
hierarchy of his data. This diagram shows an excerpt of the previously
described data structure:
Repository: Product Information
FAMILY
Roses
Miniatures
Household
Plants
...
...
...
CATEGORY
CATEGORY
CATEGORY
Polyanthas
Large
remontant
bushes w/
flowers
Kitchen
...
DIY
Comfort
Vegetables
Parfum de
liberté
Deep secret
Annual
summer
...
...
...
SPECIES
Magie noir
Perennial
Carnations
SPECIES
Dior
essence
Artic Star
Pink Fizz
Romance
Stardust
...
168 ATTRIBUTES
Example: color, petal form, petal color, price per quantity, dimensions, height, cut, caliber, cold frame, flowering period, blooming period,
country of origin, cultivation method, organic agriculture
...
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Achievements
With the previously set hierarchy of products, a clear product structure including the now synchronized existing data sources – has been defined
for the website.
It exactly applies to the client’s individual user missions, since the company
data structure is built the way need.
The semantic-based approach of the client’s PIM solution empowers the
system to understand nuances and correlations of each product.
The PIM solution strictly refers to the same product patterns and can therefore automatically match and validate product attributes.
The search through the complex range of products is facilitated as well as
adding or enriching products to the interface (and also the e-shop) due to
the standardized product requirement template.
Any of these information changes done within the interface are automatically released on the client’s new website.
Consequently, through the standardization & high detail level of data, a clear
thread of product information and description is established, enabling the
consumer to better understand the offers – resulting in higher purchase
transactions.
SUMMING UP
Creating a data structure with a PIM solution provides
product clarity, consistency and differentiation,
ultimately resulting in increased consumer purchases.
9 | Building a data structure with a PIM solution
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3 CORE BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH A PIM
1. MULTICHANNEL
MARKETING ACTIVITIES
Using a PIM solution including structured data optimizes…
... your Multichannel Marketing activities. Your company is able to easily manage, enrich & provide product information on multiple distribution channels
(web, mobile, print, PoS, online vendors, etc.) you communicate & sell through.
... your Marketing offer. Your company and especially your Marketing department is able to perfectly adapt & contextualize the content for each channel,
country & language, regardless of the amount & complexity of the product information.
A PIM solution manages multiple repositories
Within the PIM interface, it is possible to manage multiple product repositories
in order to leverage the already existing, clean and consistent data*.
A PIM solution creates a clear overview of all product information across the
organization as well as to partners, and to potential customers.
Businesses are able to build a unique brand identity** with a seamless and integrated customer experience throughout all touch points of their brand.
69%
of prospective online buyers rely on E-Commerce features typically
enabled by information managed or governed from a PIM solution⁵.
* Read Blog article on “Leveraging data to enter new markets” here http://bit.ly/1oT96je
** Read Blog article on “Building a unique brand identity” here http://bit.ly/1N8XzU9
10 | Building a data structure with a PIM solution
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2. PRODUCT CONTENT
DIFFERENTIATION
Using a PIM solution including structured data optimizes...
...your product content, which is the key to competitiveness because it pushes
customer purchases.
Customers are looking for products that are truly specific. The more insightful
(complete, detailed & consistent) the product information, the better your company stands out from the crowd when consumers search & compare products*.
Hundreds of retailers are selling similar products around the world, no matter
where from, they are all one click away! Quality product information is a key
differentiator and drives sales.
Improving search engine visibility through careful product
content selection
A way to differentiate is to identify consumer search
patterns to then include them in product descriptions:
e.g. What keywords do people type in? How do people
navigate through your website?
Carefully selecting strong and distinct product descriptions,
supports their differentiation.
Keyword rich product descriptions have positive effects concerning
the ranking in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Page). Your products and your
web pages are more likely to appear in the search engine’s top results, hence
drive traffic to your website.
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When considering a purchase,
71%
of prospective online buyers rely on product information⁵
Ideally, any product information displayed online should tell a product story, and
take the consumer on a unique and memorable shopping journey*.
These impactful product features are easily managed through the assignment of
attributes within the PIM solution.
* Read the article “Bible of Barbecue turns into a full BBQ kit” here: http://cnet.co/1o7vaTU
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3. ESTABLISHMENT OF
WORKFLOWS
Using a PIM solution including structured data optimizes...
…your business processes and establishes workflows to be able to follow up
from the initial idea to the finalized campaign.
As all of the product information is centralized within a unique & connected repository, the processes & workflows behind accessing Marketing information is
defined for all employees & partners. The platform becomes the single reference
point for everyone associated.
The product information is highly reliable, always up-to-date and accurate because there is only one version of it and it is synchronized everywhere.
PIM as a tool to manage accessibility, usage and
distribution of data
Through rights management, authorized users can easily define
which information is accessible and modifiable by whom - internally
or externally.
Workflows & validation processes are automated so that your company has control over what is published anywhere.
The management of usage rights for all visual content that is used in public (Digital Rights Management) enables businesses to keep an eye on all digital assets
to make sure of their compliance.
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DID THIS SPARK YOUR
INTEREST ?
This Ebook was brought to you by MaPS System.
Request a demo and find out how we can help you
create a tailored data structure for your business!
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ABOUT
MaPS System has developed into the market leader providing an all-inone Data Management solution for Multichannel Marketing combining
PIM (Product Information Management), MDM (Master Data Management), DAM (Digital Asset Management) as well as (web & print) Publishing
solutions.
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SOURCES
¹ No author, PDF Association Survey, March 2015
² No author, Report on Commerce Technology And Platform Trends – 2013
³ No author, « Botanic Gardens Convervation International »,
https://www.bgci.org/policy/1521/
⁴ No author, « Floribunda, Grandiflora Rose ‘Dioressence‘ »
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/63157/#ixzz3tGX1f08g
⁵ Peter Sheldon, Forrester Report on « Polishing up your products – Why PIM really matters », November 2014
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MaPS System’s Multichannel Marketing solution?
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[email protected] | www.maps-system.com