21 Jan Implement successful product data strategies from 2021 in 2022 as well!

Exactly one year ago, our CEO Guido Sauerland gave you 3 tips for successful product data strategies in 2021 and how you will get off to a good start in eCommerce. Have you successfully deployed your product data in 2021? His tips were about automating the provision of product data, taking a closer look at the top 10% of your customers, and thinking outside the box to other possible sales channels.

Some of our customers’ success ideas, which we implemented together in 2021, are summarized below. Get your project inspiration for this year!

No matter if you are interested in topics around eCommerce or data classifications, or if you prefer to know more about PIM and Pimcore. There’s a little bit of everything in our customer success projects. Take a look at our selection and pick out the most interesting stories:

Effectively using article data in eCommerce

Every form of eCommerce requires up-to-date and error-free data so that products and services can be found by the appropriate target groups. The product and assortment policy in retail also leads again and again to the discussion about the so-called long tail assortment, which describes the sale of niche products or C-products. You can read more about the competitive advantages of a long tail assortment and what the triumvirate for an optimal customer experience is all about in the following articles:

• Long Tail Assortment with Efficiency in Data Management
• eCommerce for B2B companies: The triumvirate for an optimal customer experience

Useful data classifications according to ETIM

ETIM stands for Electro-Technical Information Model and is a classification model and free standard to support the electronic exchange of product data. Since the foundation of the association in 1999, this model has established itself in the field of electrical engineering as well as (subsequently also in) related industries, such as SHK (heating, sanitary and air-conditioning technology) and WEBA (tools, hardware and factory equipment). The standard, which is specially designed to meet the requirements of these industries, not only allows products to be described uniformly, but also to be clearly assigned to different product classes. Since everything revolves around product data and classifications at our company, we have recently been dealing with these topics:

• Change to ETIM 8.0 becomes mandatory (incl. Proficl@ss)
• New product data format for international data exchange…
• ETIM 9 is coming – nexoma offers analysis of ETIM data

Successful product data strategies in the PIM system PIMCORE

Since March 2020 nexoma is Pimcore silver partner. Our employees certify themselves regularly. Pimcore is not just a PIM system, but much more an open source digital platform. It combines the functions of Product Information Management (PIM), Master Data Management (MDM), Digital Asset Management (DAM) and Content Management (CMS) in one centralized solution. In 2021, we implemented a project for multiclassification, accompanied the Pimcore X release at our customers’ sites, and learned about the 2022 roadmap on the occasion of Pimcore Inspire with Pimcore UI 2.0:

• Multiclassification with Pimcore – what are the benefits?
• Pimcore X Release – everything you need to know!
• Mapping complex products in one PIM system

What’s the Content Supply Chain all about?

Together with our online marketing and eCommerce partner Spark+Sparkling, we set out to visualize the topic of Content Supply Chain. A new video has been created that illustrates the concept of the product data supply chain. Here at nexoma, we define three process steps: Data Procurement, Data Refinement and Data Distribution. For these processes we have appropriate software tools ready, which you can use for one or more successful product data strategies:

• New video: 30% more revenue through the content supply chain
• Concept of eBusiness: the Content Supply Chain
• What do squirrels and chameleons have to do with product data?

For the construction industry a milestone – for us a solution.

In short: The DPB industry standard

In March 2020, the “DPB Datenmanagement zur Prozessoptimierung für Bauprodukte im Groß- und Einzelhandel e.V.” (DPB Data Management for Process Optimization for Construction Products in Wholesale and Retail) association adopted an industry-standard exchange format for article master data. According to this, from now on there will be one data as well as classification model for building products that are managed in retail or specialized wholesale. We have dealt with the new requirements and have the know-how about the contents and specifics of the DPB e.V.

• DPB – Data management for brewing products at wholesale and retail level

Marketplaces and interfaces: Exciting further developments at CatalogExpress

Together with our customers, we have further developed the “CatalogExpress” tool. We successfully managed to connect the marketplace of Conrad.de. to our solution and to use Plentymarkets as a channel multiplier. For 2022, we will continue to develop this tool and adapt it to the requirements of our customers. We are also happy to implement your wishes!

• Conrad.de marketplace connection: Synchronized order management and automated data update
• Plentymarkets and CatalogExpress: Connecting B2B customers and marketplaces

Product configurator for retail partners

A product configurator on the PIM system is a tool that displays a wide variety of product variants in 3D and can be an important part of successful product data strategies. For this purpose, all features as well as characteristics of the respective product are collected, which the configurator can access in one or more data sources. Now every user can display the product with its different features and characteristics and thus individually compile his or her favorite. Different variations can be tested quickly and easily. Read more about this topic in our following reports:

• The added value of the product configurator on the PIM system
• Product configurator with Pimcore for Helestra

Support projects on the rise

Among other things, we keep our knowledge up to date through close cooperation with interdisciplinary networks, universities and leading technology partners. Funding projects, such as S3XI, play just as big a role as our involvement in SmartCities and Regionale 2025 .

Digitization is advancing at such a rapid pace that many companies are finding it difficult to keep up. To give companies a helping hand, the German government has now come up with a support program. Under the name “Digital now”, the aim is to help small and medium-sized enterprises to digitize further. We have summarized more about this for you in our article “Förderprogramm – Digital jetzt”.

Since we at nexoma have been dealing with the topic of data standards for a long time, we will show you in the following article how we are happy to pass on this expertise so that other industries can also benefit from it:

• Data standards – networked with forest and wood 4.0.

Here you can find us live and in color on product data and PIM: recordings, podcasts, videos and much more.

• NEXIpedia – the nexoma knowledge encyclopedia
• Cracker of the year 2021
• Events and workshops in 2021
• Everything about product data – podcasts, interviews and more!