Manufacturing Customer Value

How Mason Companies Improved Loyalty with MDM

Adam Birkholz, Sr. Systems Analyst, Mason Companies, Inc.

Agenda• Mason Companies

Background• Problems Faced• Innovative Approach• Strategic Results

Company BackgroundFounded in 1904 by August Mason

and son, Bert Mason, from GermanyFamily-owned company located in

Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

1922 –Door-to-Door

1985 – Mail Order

1996 –Credit Offer

1999 – Multi-Channel

Company Background

Company Background Credit Brands

Non Credit Brands

New Brands

Company Background Marketing Channels

Approx. 12 Catalog Mailings per year per catalog channel

Approx. 100 Million Mailings per year

Over 200 Million Marketing Emails per year

Websites

All 10 Catalog Sites, 1 Catalog Mobile Site

ShoeMall, ShoeMall Mobile, eBay ShoeMall, Amazon ShoeMall

Ebay Enabba

Project Scope Product Data Model

Approx. 25K Product Families

Approx. 55K Product Colors

Approx. 800K Product Variants

400+ Attributes

11 Different Product Types

Product and Vendor Hierarchies 6 Level Hierarchy

Approx. 1K Vendors

Portal Implementation 3-Level Product Support

New Product Introduction Workflow 5 States: Initiate, Vendor Enrich, Mason Enrich, Review, Approval

Outbound Incremental Product Feed 1 Product Feed for 4 Enterprise Channels (Supply Chain, Forecasting, CRM, Web)

Project Goals Establish a single source of truth for product information and related

assets

Streamline communication from merchandise planning strategies to sourcing personnel

Establish data quality controls

Manage product introduction via formal workflow implementation

Increase speed and oversight of onboarding processes for e-commerce and catalog production

Enable vendor attribute enrichment in Portal or import via Excel

Equal or surpass legacy environment data entry metrics

Create Footwear Product Family < 10 minutes (1 Color and 40 Sizes)

Create Apparel Product Family < 10 minutes (3 Colors and 6 Sizes)

Create Home Product Family < 25 minutes

Project Impact Established a single source of truth for product information and related

assets

Streamlined communication from merchandise planning strategies to sourcing personnel

Established data quality controls

Managed product introduction via formal workflow implementation

Increased speed and oversight of onboarding processes for e-commerce and catalog production

Enabled vendor attribute enrichment in Portal or import via Excel

Equaled or surpassed legacy environment data entry metrics

Created Footwear Product Family < 10 minutes (1 Color and 40 Sizes)

Created Apparel Product Family < 10 minutes (3 Colors and 6 Sizes)

Created Home Product Family < 25 minutes

Keys To Success Small Team Size

Limited number of decision makers

Reduced political interference

Executive Support

Regular meetings with Executive Sponsors

Scope Control

Established a Project Charter

Adhered to Statement of Work/Budget

Focused on deployment of base with strict customization avoidance

Stibo Systems Support

Provided a project team with correct backgrounds

Demonstrated partnership, flexibility, and budget control

Reacted rapidly to core issues preventing go-live

Manufacturing Customer Value

How Mason Companies Improved Loyalty with MDM

Adam Birkholz, Sr. Systems Analyst, Mason Companies, Inc.