Illums Bolighus gets a handle on product data with PIM

PIM was the way forward

At Illums Bolighus, they believe that e-commerce and physical stores are not an either-or option, but both-and. Hence the close connection between their physical presence and their digital universe. Such an ambitious omnichannel strategy places great demands on the management of product data, because how do you distribute a multitude of product data across multiple channels and media – and across four countries – simply and easily?

The way forward was a PIM solution from NORRIQ. Anton Danielsen, E-commerce Manager at Illums Bolighus, explains: “We used to spend a lot of time updating various systems when a product or product line was changed. Every time we had to change something, we had to do it on websites, in catalogues and various systems, and then, of course, in all four languages. It was incredibly time consuming and it was easy to make mistakes. So, that’s where PIM came in.”

Data has to be corrected in one place only

Bolighuset now has an upgraded PIM solution that is fully integrated with their ERP system and gathers all product information in one system. This means that they only have to update data in one place and then export the changes to all the places they need to be used, such as the physical catalogues, online shops, the ERP system, etc.

This way, all product data across systems and countries is gathered in one solution and connected to both the ERP system and all the channels that contain data, making maintaining and managing the product information much easier than before. Anton Danielsen explains “Our work to maintain master data has become so much easier. Instead of correcting things in multiple systems, we now just fix things in one place, and then they are changed in five different places.”

A strategic advantage for the whole company

Not only does the solution make for easier workflows, but it also means that Bolighus has a much faster time-to-market. Anton Danielsen continues: “We also have all the language layers there, and as we are in four markets with four different languages, all our product data has four language layers, which are now all in our PIM solution from NORRIQ. This makes it easy to push new things out on the different online shops via the channels.”

The advantages for the commercial departments are obvious, but the solution actually creates value across the entire company. The data quality has improved significantly, and integration to the online shop means that customers look directly at live-updated data when shopping online. And the better a company’s product data is, the easier it is for customers to shop with the company online. This helps reduce the number of customer enquiries and increase the conversion rate. And PIM also facilitates work on product texts, which ultimately determine which products Google finds first.

Anton Danielsen concludes: “The upgrade of our PIM solution has made a huge difference. With it, we have gathered all our product data in a simple and efficient way, and this has paid dividends throughout our value chain.”