Product Information Management

Johan Bostrom, VP Strategy & Software Alliance

@EPiServer Customer & Partner Day 2012

Customer examples

Three important things to focus on(according to Dr.Robert Shaw and Dr. Philip Kotler)

Fast - because the markets are changing faster

and faster.

Lean - because fast without lean is burning

money.

Measurable - to make sure that you are driving

sales.

The multi-channeling consequences

WebCMS

FILESERVER

E-COM

Text DB

SupplierSupplier

Productowner

Productowner

MarketingMarketing

C:\My docs

Image DBERP

InDesigndocs

PLM

SalesSales

Content spaghetti

Channeling with a PIM approach

The product

offering

The Product in focus – fashion retail edition

Process &

information flow

Version 1

Version 2

Version 3

Version 4

Fall/Winter

- 2011

Spring/Summer

- 2012

Fall/Winter

-2012

Spring/Summer

2013

Active assortment (locked to channels)

Upcoming assortment (undergoing update)

Managing carry-overs through smart versioning

Product variants Assortment

Old assortment (history)

Old assortment (history)

Product

(Regular Shirt)SKU/Item

Resource

(File of any type)

Up-sell

Example model

Expensive Shirt

SKU/ItemSKU/Item/Variant

Resource

(File of any type)Resource

(File of any type)

Product

(Pants)

Cross-sell

SKU/ItemSKU/Item

SKU/Item/Variant

Look and/or Campaign

Look/Campaign

Included in

Look/Campa

ign

Pants

Shirt

Cotton SweaterResource

(File of any type)Resource

(File of any type)Resource

(File of any type)

So why don’t we use our ERP for

our cross-channel needs?

ERP delivers

Field Value

Item number 12345-22

Item name SHOE FTB 13

Price 1399.00

On stock 188 pcs

Shelf no in

warehouse

12A

No. per pallet 122

Pallet weight 166 kg

Suppl. Itno 3476-3

The channel needs

1. Consolidate your product master data and all related digital assets

2. Make the product your information carrier

3. Add controlled attributes (metadata) to the product

inRiver’s four step recipe for efficient PIM

“A PIM process is like a racing car –

strip anything that isn’t absolutely necessary!”

Product Management Wheel

ERP/PLM/PDM

PIMPCMPCM

ChannellingChannelling

PIM Process starts here..

ERP information:

Information needed to complete

a transaction.

• Packaging

• Warehouse info

• Price

• BOM

• Etc.

Market related information:

Information needed to sell a

product.

• Sales arguments

• Translations

• Images

• Product description

Channel planning/Assortments:

Planning and grouping into the

assortments to meet different

requirements in different channels

Channel specific:

Manage all aspects of the

channeling :

• Web layout

• e-Commerce

• InDesign layout

Optimized Business Processes

Order Create Watch Edit Translate Approve Publish

Sourcing Coordinator

Editor

Photographer Supplier

Translator

Product/Marketing Manager

Import new Product

Information to inRiver PIM

Translation

service

Publish PIM content

to defined channels

Supply images to

inRiver PIM

Supply texts to

inRiver PIM

Define channel

information,

Channel Ready

A serial process

Select ProductsSelect ProductsSelect Products

Catalog ProductionCatalog ProductionCatalog Production

Translation/proofingTranslation/proofingTranslation/proofing

January March May

Enrich ProductsEnrich ProductsEnrich Products

Ch

an

ne

l Re

ad

y

A parallel process

Select ProductsSelect ProductsSelect Products

January March May

Enrich ProductsEnrich ProductsEnrich Products

Translations/proofingTranslations/proofingTranslations/proofing

Ch

an

ne

l Re

ad

y

The main reasons for better efficiency is:

• Product level decisions that allows

enrichment to start earlier.

• The ability to arrange and design the

publication even if a product and its related

content is not fully enriched.

• The ability to start translation before the first

“general language” assortment is ready.

Benefits:

• Add products and ideas later

• Shorter time-to-market

• Lower cost

• Increased quality

Catalog ProductionCatalog Production

inRiver Rich Client

inRiver Print for InDesign

inRiver Web Client

Demo

inRiver Web Media Browser

Why inRiver for Cross Channel Commerce?

• Because commerce needs rich content - in all channels.

• Collaboration point for teams, departments, external –streamlines and automates information production.

• Much faster time-to-market.

• Re-use and re-purpose information in all channels.

• Makes localization fast and cost effective.

• Far less mistakes and discrepancies.

• Consistency across channels.

• Quick customization and/or personalization for any purpose and any channel.

Why the EPiServer + inRiver package?

• A package that just works together!– EPiServer Commerce for eCommerce

– inRiver for Product Marketing (PIM)

– Standard Channel Adapter between inRiver and EPiServer Commerce

– Single point of contact for all support.

• Very customizable

• Best-of-breed solutions

• Fast and cost effective implementation

• Easy to adapt over time

¼ of the time, ½ of cost and 4x the value

• Scalability - Module based to start small scale fast

• Growth - Increases sales

• Simplicity - Easy to use and implement

• Speed - Pilot up n’running in 8-10 days

• Quality – Perfect product information

– Project ¼ of the time compared to competitors